Fide et Fidei ad Finem
by Skies-of-Gallifrey
Summary: Your soul in time is lost. Banished it is to the shadowed corners of the mind. Do not let him see.' Those words were spoken to Alisha Parks what seems like years ago. And she soon discovers that, facing the dangers of the Universe, life is an fleeting thing. Death comes swiftly to the unaware. Rated T for themes and language (starting at Chapter 10). ON HIATUS
1. Three Feet of Snow

I took a sip out of my cup as I strolled. The warm apple juice was scalding hot, but considering that it was 2 degrees out it wasn't all that unreasonable. I glanced around and found an unoccupied bench. Well, I say unoccupied except for the ton or so of snow that had fallen in the span of a single night. I proceeded to clear a small space, I ended up carving an armchair out of the fresh powder. I sat down and relaxed enjoying the heat of my drink and the fact that I didn't have classes due to the unexpected snow.

I thought about the snow for a moment. It was weird, it was only October and we already had a full three feet of snow. In a single night! Meteorologist all over the world were confused, preppies were gloating and preaching the end of humanity. I thought it was pretty cool, I loved snow. The cold didn't please me too much but at least I had a warm flat and a good parka.

I sat there, in my own thoughts, the styrofoam cup radiating heat into my hand, reminding me to take a sip every so often. I was deep in thought when I heard an odd sound coming from a bit further along the path. I peeked over the snow covering the rest of the bench to see what was going on.

I could've sworn that box wasn't there before, the fact it wasn't covered in snow only reinforced that thought. I watched as a man who clearly wasn't dressed for the weather stepped out, muttered something I couldn't hear and marched off.

Curious, I lifted myself out of my little fortress of snow and approached the box. The blue finish stood out starkly in the expanse of white that was the park. A luminous sign on the top read "Police Public Call Box", I remembered seeing a picture of one in an old 1960's album in the library. That didn't explain what this one was doing here.

I looked around at the base of the box, there were no tracks except mine and those of the man who walked out. Even behind it. The box hadn't been driven in, a crane would've been too noisy. Unless it had spontaneously appeared there, there was no way it could've gotten there.

"Whatever remains must be the truth..." I muttered to myself as I placed my hand on the door. I hadn't the man locked it and unsurprisingly the door yielded to my light push. Realising something, I took a step backwards and read the sign on the other door. "Pull to open" it said. I chuckled and both cursed and blessed my inability to register the meaning of door signs. I shook my head at my own stupidity as I stepped inside the box. When I looked up I was tearing at an immense space. At the centre of which stood at large column. The bluish light emanating from it was actually rather soothing. I wandered inside, admiring the impossibility of the space inside. I didn't bother going outside to recheck, I knew what I saw. This thing was tiny outside, but inside... Inside it was a whole new world. I brushed my fingers against the edge of the console. The static shock I got felt like I was being scolded for touching something in a museum or something. I made note of the implied "Do not touch" sign and resumed exploring. I walked across the metal grid floor, feeling it dip slightly under my heavy footfalls. I stepped, with great relief onto firmer ground. The corridor was dark, I scanned the wall for a light switch.

"Come on there's got to be a light around here somewhere." Then I remembered my best friend's latest feat of tinkering with his apartment. I clapped my hands, the light blazed into life, I grinned. This was the best thing ever. I could see a set of stairs at the end of the corridor and a door halfway between me and it. I waltzed over to the door and peeked my head into the room. Seeing nothing but filing cabinets, shelves and stray boxes, I moved on, assuming I'd just found the archive room. I reached the stairs and stood for a moment, admiring the handiwork. The design of the short flight of steps was rather opulent, with a carved wooden banister in what looked like a light oak or birch, the door itself intricately inlaid with brass. Above the door was a seal. It looked like a stylised eight, or an hourglass. It was very pretty nonetheless. I strode up the polished stone stairs, this room must be very important. I pushed the handle down, a click, the door opened with an awful groan. The owner really should oil the doors, already the one to the outside was a bit squeaky... I turned my attention to the contents of the high vaulted space before me, and my jaw dropped. It was a library. This guy certainly had his priorities straight. I couldn't see the end of it, it was just shelves after shelves after shelves, on two levels! I marvelled at the closest bookcase, each shelf was labeled with a little brass circle each one with a different pattern inside it. I suspected it to be a language of some kind, I mean they were labels after all. I strolled amidst the books, enjoying the smell of paper and leather that filled the immense space. I noticed some shelves had little objects on them, probably little mementos that were too important or meant too much to be shoved into the archive room. I was about to scale a set of spiral iron stairs with a flower patterned banister when the entire room shook, sending me sprawling onto the cold metal of the staircase.

"What the hell was that for?" I scolded the empty air. A draft responded, I shivered.

Unfazed I resumed my climb to the upper level. Up here the shelves were newer, the little brass labels were shinier and not as worn as the ones below. This was the new information section. I pulled out a random book, I couldn't read the curvy writing on the cover, but I opened it anyway, enjoying the feel of paper under my fingers. Smiling I put it back as I found it. I turned around and a familiar symbol caught my eye. I went over to inspect the shelf in question and was surprised to see that the books on this shelf were in English. I read the titles on the leather bound books and was surprised to spot some of my favourites, there was the integral works of John Green plus a few I didn't know, there was the entire Hunger Games series, plus a few books by the same author that I didn't know but was dying to read. On a lower shelves I found all seven Harry Potter books. I marvelled at this man's collection of book and wondered if he'd read them all. If he had... That was impossible, I looked from the back of the room to the front and assessing the number of book, tens of thousands, and the time needs to read one, a day based on my own reading speed, a calculated how much time was needed to read all of them, centuries. Unless that man was over a hundred years old, there was no way he'd read all of them. I looked back at the careful labelling and the leather bound books. I knew some of those books as paperbacks, they'd been rebound. With extreme care, you could see the careful minutiae, the time spent. Despite the impossibility of the assertion, I concluded that that man, that impossible man, he read and rebound every single book in here. With the exception perhaps of the original dwellers of this magnificent library. Suddenly I found myself liking him. I had never met him, didn't even know what his face looked like, but I instantly felt for him, sharing his love for the written word.

I propelled myself away from the banister I'd been leaning against when I heard footsteps echoing in the high vaulted ceiling.

"Uncaïr, Uncaïr... " I heard him say to himself, his voice betraying a slight frustration. I didn't understand what the word meant but to be honest I didn't really care. I watched him navigate the book lined alleys, scanning the titles of the thick volumes. I peered over the edge watching him fervently look for whatever book he was looking for. "Aha!" He suddenly exclaimed, the barest hint of Scottish accent making itself known. I watched him exit the library his nose in a large volume with bits of paper sticking out of the edges, I suspected they were notes he'd taken while reading it. One of the pages fell out and fluttered behind him. I waited a moment, making sure I could safely come down unnoticed. I tiptoed to the loose page and picked it up, ducking behind a narrow bookcase beside the wall to read it. Or try to anyway. The man had a doctor's handwriting, I could barely make out the shape of the barely circular scribbles. It was clearly not written using and alphabet I knew, actually I seriously doubted it even was from this planet. I entertained the notion that the impossible man with the love of book was an alien. I shook my head, and yet... Well he'd looked human when I saw him... I put the thought train on the back burner for later inspection. When I had more information to go on. I turned my attention back to the scribbled notes. I recognised one of the better shaped circles to be of the same type as the little brass labels on the shelves. It was the same language I was sure of it. A language written in a circle, now that was interesting! I turned the page around to reveal more dreadful handwriting, and a drawing. A sketch of some kind of horned creature. Only the head had been depicted, but the detail was exquisite. The man was a brilliant artist as well, I stared at the drawing in awe. A slightly neater little circle lay in the corner of the drawing, most probably letting the reader know what it was.

Suddenly I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to talk with him about all the wonderful things he'd seen. I wanted to get to know the impossible bookbinder with awful handwriting, wanted him to teach me things, things that my first year university professors would never have guessed or deemed impossible. I looked out at the rest of the library, remembering my earlier calculations. Hundreds of years... If that were true. I stood there in my day dream, not noticing the muffled footsteps behind me, or the moment they suddenly stopped.

I jumped when I hear a cough behind me, and froze when I saw the source. There he was right in front of me, for the first time I saw his face, his dark brown eyes glaring at me like the intruder I was. My mind raced as I tried to save the situation, I remembered the paper I was holding.

"You dropped this." I said simply, my voice wavering a little, he took the page but maintained his cold stare. I found it funny how his eyes were so cold, when they could, and had, contained such warmth and kindness.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice impassive and cold as ice.

"Alisha. Alisha Parks... Sir."

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" The second question had a hint of bewilderment, despite being hidden well, very well.

"The door was open." I lowered my head between my shoulders, feeling very small despite our being of similar heights. His furrowed brow seemed very threatening all of a sudden "I was curious." I admitted, that was the truth. I was curious, and now I had gotten into trouble for it. As usual.

He stared me down, I could tell he was thinking. Hard. Only about thirty second went by, but it felt like an hour. Then he smiled.

"Come." He jerked his head to the side, motioning me to follow. Nervously, I trotted behind him. His slim figure silhouetted in the dimly lit corridor. He'd looked about thirty-five or so, but I could tell that that his handsome face of his was nothing but a facade. The utterly ordinary, and well designed, front of a building that held oh so many secrets.

We reached the first room, the one with the column, he beckoned me over. He pulled a monitor over and showed me a map detailing cloud movement.

"You had quite a lot of snow lately, correct?" He asked pointing to the clouds.

"Yes." I answered, unsure of his meaning

"When did it start?"

"Last night, three feet in less than twenty-four hours. Which is odd, especially for the middle of October" I dared try a slightly longer sentence. I watched his reaction carefully, he didn't seem to react negatively to it, so I relaxed a little.

"Did anything happen before that?" He said returning his attention to the monitor, fiddling with a few buttons "A storm, meteor shower?"

"There was that meteor that fell."I said remembering the news over the last few weeks "They tracked it to the middle of Northumberland but when they got there there was absolutely nothing." If that wasn't odd, she didn't know what was.

"Huh..." He pressed a couple of buttons and glided to the other end of the console. "Northumberland you said?"

"Yeah..." I watched him press seemingly random button, and fiddle with a few levers and sliders.

"Well, that narrows it down." He grabbed the monitor and pulled it over to himself. "Aha!"

"What?" I asked, as I moved out of the way so he could press a button.

"I found it."

"Found wh-" I started but I was thrown to the floor by another jolt.

The entire room was shaking, I got up in time to see him bring down a lever and it all stopped.

He jumped over to the door in what seemed like a single stride. Picking up his coat up from one of the branched columns on his way. I just stood three, frozen in confusion.

"Coming?" He asked, jovial. I timidly stepped over to him, taken aback by his sudden change in mood. A few minute ago he looked ready toll I me up in the deepest dungeon for breaking in, and now he acts like every is perfectly alright.

"Why?" I asked "Why me?" I didn't know what else to ask

"You're the one that came in." He stated simply "You tell me."

He opened the door and we both steppe out, not onto the snow covered pavement of the park, but on frosty grass dotted with heather bushes.

My eyes widened for a moment as I tried to understand how we moved, then the explanation dawned on me. The box wasn't just a box with more space inside than outside, it was a ship. A brilliant and wonderful mode of transportation, for the most confusing man I'd ever met.

"Who are you?" I asked staring into the distance.

"I'm the Doctor." He looked at me, I looked back at him. It was almost as if he expected me to say something.

"Nice to meet you, Doctor." For some reason the name just fit. It most certainly corresponded to his handwriting. I could see how people could be uncomfortable calling him something that was basically just an anonymous title, but it fit and from now on, that was his name, not some word my history or science professors put before their name to show they got their degree.

He smiled "And you Alisha Parks." Now I could see the warmth in his eyes.

"What are we looking for?" I asked, my heart soaring. The Doctor stepped out into the snow, only now did I notice that he was wearing Converse. I raised my eyebrows at his clear defiance of any kind of fashion.

"A cloaked or camouflaged ship, if it's cloaked you'll see a dip in the snow. But if it's camouflaged, the only way to find it is to, well... Run into it."

I nodded and started in the other direction, keeping my eyes on the snow, looking for any usual tracks in the snow. I thought I spotted some unusual tracks, but upon closer inspection they were just those of a hare. I walked in a straight line. Every so often I would glance back and see the Doctor holding out something, but I was too far to see what it was. I turned back to my own little line of searching, took two steps and ran right into a wall. Dazed I looked to see what I'd run into, and saw nothing.

"Doctor!" I called, getting up while rubbing my forehead "I think I found it." I glared at the offending bit of air as the Doctor came running.

"Good job!" He praised

"Yeah..." I mumbled, we looked at each other, he was trying no to laugh "No! It's not funny!" At that he lost it, doubling over with laughter as I stood there, slightly insulted. I made an effort to comprehend him, and failed. We have now gone from throw-down-a-well anger, to hey-I-just-met-you friendliness, and now to best-friends-for-years. That man was decidedly completely impossible.

When he recovered from laughing he was completely out of of breath. "Let's see what we're dealing with." He pulled out a little silver device from his right breast pocket. Holding it in both hands, it made a light whirring sound and emitted a blue light. At first nothing happened, the tone of the whirring went up and then where only air had been, stood a large ship. I stepped back to look at it. It was vaguely pill shaped, with two cylinders on the sides which I assumed to be the engines, and front that reminded me of a dolphin's head.

"Alisha, meet the Uncaïr." He sated matter-of-factly.

"Who are the Uncaïr?" I asked, although I could guess most of the basic information

"Aliens. From Pantar." He said "They're planet is one of the coldest you'll ever find life on." he stopped, thinking "But what are they doing here?"

"Conquering the planet?" I suggested

"Why do you say that?" He seemed to welcome my input, so I continued

"Well, the entirety of Europe is covered in snow earlier than it should be, and the temperatures have been dropping for the past two weeks." I shifted my gaze slightly to read the expression on his face, he seemed interested, so I continued "If their planet is cold, it would make sense if they turned another planet cold as part of terraforming to live on it. I doubt they can stand heat very long if they're used to negative temperatures in summer."

He nodded slowly, "Why the planet if only Europe is covered three feet of snow?" He asked, I could tell he was testing me.

"Have you ever heard of aliens invading that wanted less than the entire planet?" I said, shrugging.

He nodded again, accepting the information. "You're good." He said, I blushed and looked away. I wasn't used to compliments.

"Now we need to find a door." He ran off, his trench coat flying out behind him. I jogged behind him, cursing the fact I was so unfit.

When I caught up with him, he was paying very close attention to a small hatch. His little tool whirring furiously. The pitch changed several times, finally there was a loud clang and the hatch opened a little.

"In we go!" He flung it open.

"You couldn't find a proper airlock could you?"

"It' s as good a way in as any other." He stated before hopping down the narrow opening. Of course he didn't have any problem, his thin frame allowed him to do such things. Me on the other hand... I wasn't exactly fat, but I wasn't the thinnest person out here either.

Sighing I squeezed through the opening. I didn't get stuck, and it wasn't a tight fit, but there was no way I would been able to jump down like the Doctor did. Especially since the hatch was a full eight feet above the ground.

I tumbled to the ground and landed in a heap. I groaned as I picked myself off the floor.

"Are you alright?" The Doctor asked looking slightly worried.

"Fine, not everyone is as nimble as a cat." I grumbled at him. Slightly upset that he didn't tell me it was that big a drop. After all he wasn't all that much taller than me, it should've been a sizeable jump for him as well.

"Alrighty then..." He stopped and frowned at what he'd just said. "Alisha?"

"Yeah..."

"Remind me not to say that again."

Now it was my turn to laugh, that man was just the weirdest person I'd met. And I knew I had a lot to learn from him as well.

We walked down the corridor. I pulled my collar up a bit more, it was freezing in here. The Doctor had pulled out the little device again and was following it's bleeping.

"What is that?" I asked, I'd already determined it was a tool, but I wanted to know the specific name for it.

"Sonic screwdriver." He didn't add anything else, which was fine, I didn't anymore information than that.

Soon enough we stepped into a room, and quickly backed out of it. In it were standing three large cat-like creature. The ceilings were obviously that high because their heads almost reached it. I listened to them talking, the language was purred and growled. Very guttural, but strangely melodic.

"Ooh, that's bad." The Doctor said.

"What?" I focused my attention on his voice rather than the cat's.

"Looks like you're going to get a hell of a cold spell." He said. "They're increasing the power to the atmospheric regulators."

"Oh..."I said simply. Apparently cold wasn't cold enough for our furry friends.

Suddenly one of them turned right towards us, and we slipped behind the wall as fast as we could. I heard the low growl, it was onto us. I held my breath. But it was useless, the large cat rounded corner and it's bright yellow us bore into ours.

"Now I know what you're thinking..." The Doctor started but the Uncaïr just grabbed us by our collar as if we were kittens and carried us into the main room. He growled something to the other two as we just hung there, helpless against the alien's grip. The other two looked at each other, one of them, with a plated sash, growled something back and our jailor carried us off. I guessed the captain had given the order.

I sat across from the Doctor on the cold metal floor of the cell. The Uncaïr had thrown us in here twenty minutes ago. We were still stuck. The door was unlocked, that was the easy part, the sonic did a marvellous little bit of work there. The only problem was that it was too heavy for even the both of us to push. We'd been at it for the past fifteen minutes and the door had barely moved an inch.

"Well this is useless." I said into the silence

The Doctor nodded, I could tell he was trying to come up with some clever plan, but judging from his silence, he'd come up with nothing.

"How did you understand, what they were saying." I asked, curious as ever.

At that the Doctor looked up, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"You didn't understand them?" He seemed genuinely baffled

"No... Was I supposed to?" Now we were both confused.

"Yes..." He read my puzzled expression and elaborated "the TARDIS, my ship, is supposed to translate every thing into a language you can understand." He got up and sat next to me, pulling out his screwdriver with his left hand, switching it to his right and running a scan on me. "Why didn't it do it for you?" He listened to the light bleeping "You're human, 23, perfectly normal, average..." He raised the screwdriver little by little. He frowned a little when he reached my head but didn't say anything. "I'll have to run a deeper scan back in the TARDIS, but..." He trailed the sentence.

"What exactly did you hear?" He asked

"Mostly growls and purrs. Their language is very guttural, and focused on the "r" sound." I said putting my language course to use.

"And in the library?" This question he seemed more eager to have answered

"The shelves were labeled with little circles. Like in your notes." I answered " by the way you have terrible handwriting."

He didn't take notice of my little attempt at humour. He sat back and stared at the wall.

"When we get back we're going to have to get that solved." He said suddenly very serious. We sat in silence for a bit longer, I didn't like it.

"Why do you keep your screwdriver in your right pocket if you're right handed?"

"I'm not right handed." He answered

"But you use it with your right..."

"I'm ambidextrous. I prefer my right to write, but the left'll do just as well."

The question was answered, silence returned. We both indulged in our own train of thought until the guard opened the door. He growled something at us, the Doctor got up, I follows his lead, since he was the only one here that could understand them. The Uncaïr led us back to the front room, and sat us down on a pair of chair, although from our perspective they were more like tables. The captain glared at us, his bright yellow eyes squinting at us trying to understand the little people in front of him. I didn't feel reassured, I edge across my table closer to the Doctor, he saw my fear and grabbed my hand.

"Who are you and how did you get on board our ship?" The captain asked simply, going straight to the point

I was shocked to hear him in English, so shocked I almost let go of the Doctor's hand. It was odd to hear a giant snow panther speak in a Russian accent, but to be honest it was fitting.

"I'm the Doctor, and this is Alisha Parks." He gestured to me, thankfully not letting go of my hand. "We got in through the window."

I could tell the Doctor was being facetious, the rabbit hole we'd entered through was most certainly not a window.

"Now I have a question for you." The Doctor didn't give time for the captain to speak. "Who are you and why are you freezing this planet?"

The Uncaïr looked a little miffed that his interrogation had been told to take a hike, but he answered.

"We are Uncaïr scout ship Remor, we crashed here and our engines are useless." The captain looked genuinely pained, or at least I thought so, a cat's face isn't the easiest to pick out emotions on. "and we aren't freezing the entire planet, it's just that we need to fix our engines, but it was too hot outside the ship for us to get the parts. We've sent a distress signal, but we haven't gotten a response." At that point the captain hung his head a little and his little round ears felt horizontal. He had faith in his people, but he hadn't gotten a response...

"You still froze an entire continent!" The Doctor snapped

"It was necessary!" The captain responded just as harshly "We need to complete our mission, and we need to repair our ship. A minor change in the weather will not affect your people. The effects will disappear when we leave. If the change in climate bothers you, then it is in your best interest to help us."

Oh, that was clever. I admired the intelligence of the humanoid snow-leopard. He'd backed us in a corner: Help us, or we will help ourselves.

"Very well." The Doctor got up, he let go of my hand, I followed him, but didn't dare take his hand again. "I'll help you, but I need my ship. I need to go out and bring it here, will you let me do that?"

"We keep your friend." The captain said, in tone that nulled all objections.

The Doctor looked to me, I nodded. It was okay, as long as he was coming back. He walked down the hall back to the hatch, followed by one the two lesser ranked scouts. The great panther like being stared at her, and she stared right back. On the whole they were quite beautiful. Their grey fur lightly striped and dotted with intricate patterns in white. One of them had the natural white pattern down his arm dyed black so it stood out more. Their eyes bore into her soul, she tried to the same, but looking up at someone and judging them just wasn't working. A familiar sound saved her from their intent stars. The TARDIS materialised in a corner, and the Doctor stepped, out.

"There." He was followed by the rather bewildered Uncaïr guard. "Now shall we see about those engines."

The engine room was enormous. Larger than I would've expected. The Doctor was busy looking over the spaghetti of pipes that was the main reactor.

"Well, there's one thing you're right about..." He stated after tapping a conduit "You can't make orbit like this."

A growl from the captain.

"Well technically yes... I can patch you up enough so you can get to a space dock and get yourselves properly fixed." He looked mournfully at the engine. "I don't know what happened, but it certainly wasn't accidental."

An undignified gurgled hiss from the captain.

"I wouldn't say that..." He thought a moment "Actually, yes I would..."

The sound that came from the captain as he whirled around to his two guards was most certainly not a word. The modulated growls were furious as he glared at the two guard. I watched in awe as his anger drove him to bare his formidable teeth and raise his hackles. The guards cowered, their tails immediately went between their legs and their ears fell back. The captain continued shouting at them, neither guard made a sound.

"Captain..." The Doctor placed his hand as close to the captain's shoulder as he could reach, which was quite a comical sight since he basically reached the middle of his chest. "I think there is a more sensible way to go about this."

The captain whirled around, glared at the Doctor for a moment. Then he said something, half growl half purr.

A few minutes later, they were all seated in the galley, well at lest the Uncaïr were, our positions were slightly more uncomfortable seated on piles of ship safety, diplomacy and law manuals as we were.

"So..." The Doctor started "This ship was sabotaged, and their are only three suspects. Karr, Mirg, and Remre."he said gesturing to each of them in turn. He spoke the names with surprising fluidity not stumbling on the guttural pronunciation at all, even managing the purr on the captain's name.

"Yes." All three Uncaïr agree, each one looking nastily at the other two.

The Doctor then proceeded to gather information about the ship, how it was built on so on. All the while I thought there was something missing. I pioneered hard about it, creasing my brow as I searched. Then it hit me. They were scouts, which I knew was no more than a euphemism for spies. And they were on a mission. I tapped the Doctor's shoulder, he stopped his sentence and looked at me, I whispered my findings in his ear.

"Oh." He breathed "Oh yes! Alisha you are brilliant!" I basked in the praise.

"What was your mission?" He asked simply, abandoning all previous leads.

The Uncaïr looked to each other and grumbled something simultaneously

"I don't care if it's classified! Do you want to find the saboteur or not?"

The scouts looked pained and the captain explained. I edged over to the Doctor, so close our shoulders touched, he gave me a confused glance, but concentrated on the captain again.

"...the Vellus now had our military information, and it was our job to retrieve it and plant a virus in their system that would cripple their advances enough for us to establish a proper defence."

So it was war out there.

"When was the last time you made space dock?" I asked, hoping the translating thing worked both ways. The words "space dock" felt weird on my tongue, especially when used seriously.

"Last cycle, why?"

"Any Vellus there?" I kept going, the Doctor kept quiet and let me talk. "Or anyone that could have been a Vellus operative."

All three Uncaïr gasped and uttered as single name "Eritrain!". Apparently it had just dawned on them.

"He has the technology." Said Karr, the one with the tattoo.

"He has the power." Said Mirg.

"And he has the means." Captain Remre growled.

"Well then." The Doctor piped up "You've found your culprit, now let's get you patched up and in orbit so Europe can stop freezing to death." He said with a smile despite the very serious matter.

The Uncaïr and the Doctor worked furiously on the engines, the little screwdriver working miracles in the scouts' eyes. I watched them work, being neither strong enough or experienced enough in mechanics to be of any useful help. My eyes strayed to the Doctor. His coat was currently draped over a pipe and he'd put a pair of dark rimmed glasses on. There he was, my beautiful, impossible bookbinder. Helping out. I wondered how many times he'd done this, how many times he saved worlds without anyone knowing, how many times he'd saved us. I remembered last Christmas, where rumours of a giant flying replica of the Titanic had crashed into Buckingham palace. And the Christmas before that, when I watched my cousin, who came over for the holidays, just sit up and march on to the roof. Along with half the building. I'd been so scared, seeing him on the edge. And so glad when he came to and ran into my arms. Poor little boy, only six years old. I wondered if it was him, the Doctor, who'd saved us.

Back in the TARDIS, we watched the Uncaïr ship fly off into space, first slowly then engaging their FTL drive and zooming off. I closed the doors. Earth was beautiful from here, but vertigo was still a thing in space apparently.

"There, now Europe should unfreeze a bit, you should have normal weather by November." The Doctor leaned against the console. His gaze was unreadable.

"Doctor?" I was burning to ask "The labels in the library. What language are they?"

He took a deep breath, I could see the pain veil his eyes "Gallifreyan." The sadness in his voice was barely audible, but I knew it pained him.

"That's..." I trailed the sentence trying to find the words. "That's your native language?" I skipped delicate wordings, and went straight to the point.

"Yes."

"You're not human." I said.

"No."

I felt a pang of sadness, I didn't know why. "So you are...?" I was past being delicate here, I really didn't have the words for this type of conversation.

"I am a Timelord."

I smiled a little at the name. "Lord", I mentally chuckled, no ego involved. Not at all.

"How come I can understand you..." this had puzzled me "if the translator isn't working for me..."

"I'm speaking English." He said, a slight smile on his face. I looked up at him, awe-stricken.

"Really?" He nodded "You must really like us." I laughed

"Oh, of course I do." His smile broadened, not a trace of the sadness that had been there earlier could be seen. "Humans...You are absolutely brilliant." He sauntered over to give me a hug, I returned it. "And you!" He held me at arms length, "You figured out the culprit all by yourself!"

"Oh it was nothing really..." I really wasn't used to being praised so much.

"Nothing!" He exclaimed "Nothing!" Now it was his turn to be awe-stricken "Alisha Parks you are impossible."

"I could say the same of you, Doctor." I remembered one last question. "Oh by the way..." He turned to face me from the console. "The books in the library... have you read all of them?"

He smiled "What do you think?"

My jaw dropped "Read and rebound every single book in that library? There are over a hundred thousand of them!" He nodded "But would've taken years! No centuries."

"There are about 360 000 books in that library."

I made a quick approximation calculation, ,You mean to tell me you're 900 years old." I shot him a look of disbelief.

"902 to be exact." He smirked

"But, but,... " I stuttered, still not quite believing "You look thirty!"

"Why thank you." He chuckled.

"No, no, no..." I started pacing. "The box I get, the translator I get, the aliens that look like snow-leopards I get, aliens that look human I get, but you being 902, I don't."

He laughed "Come on." He took my shoulder land led me to a corridor "Let's find you a room. It's almost eleven o'clock."

"How do you know what time it is?" I kept walking, I was true I was getting tired "We're in space."

"I always know what time it is." He stated with no little pride "Here." He gave me a light shove into a rather spacious room. "Can stay here the night. I'll take you home tomorrow."

I noticed the bed and suddenly my brain just gave in to exhaustion. "Okay." I remember muttering, then i fell into bed.

I woke up with a start, not knowing where I was. I looked around, the plain whitewashed walls had nothing special about them except a small painting of a tree against a sunset. I squirmed out of the thick red covers, and rolled lazily to the edge of the queen sized bed. Then I remembered the day before, this was the TARDIS. I noticed a neat pile of clothes on a chair against the wall, on it was a note. I half-recognised the awful handwriting, the cursive script had been elongated and flattened.

"I think these should fit you." i managed to read, it was like reading a medieval manuscript. I squinted to read the rest. "The kitchen is down the hall if you want breakfast."

I looked to the neat stack of cloth. All rather plain, no particular style. I picked up the pile and plodded to the bathroom, hoping a shower would wake me up.

It did, soaking wet, I grabbed the towel I'd used the day before and dry myself off. I ended up staring a myself in the full length mirror next to the sink. I let the towel drop, and examine myself. I wasn't what your average 20 year old boy would call "attractive", I had a thick bone structure, which automatically increased my dress size. And my laziness and unwillingness to exercise just made the few curves I had disappear. I raised my gaze to meet my own eyes. Grey, green, blue, brown,... They were of no particular colour really. Depended on the light. My hair was also on the forgettable side, my dark brown curls usually reached the middle of my shoulder blades. Currently wet as they were, they were completely straight and stretched all the way down to the middle of my back. Quickly drying off, the excess water that continually streamed from my hair, I held up the first item of clothing on the pile. A red sweater, my size exactly, with little white chevrons across the chest. It was very festive. I rummaged through the pile and was slightly embarrassed to find a set of underwear. With them was another note.

"Don't blush, I had a daughter, and a granddaughter, I know what you ladies wear." Said the cryptic scribbles.

I blushed even redder.

I ignored my embarrassment and resumed clothing myself. I looked in the mirror again to see how the outfit looked, and nodded. Not bad at all, while he had no dress sense for himself, he certainly knew about others. Mad, impossible Doctor.

My need for sustenance made itself known, loudly. I remembered about breakfast, and set out to find the kitchen. The corridor was lit, this side of the side was,in the same organic, coral-y style then the main control room, the forked columns supporting the slightly lower ceiling. I found the kitchen, mainly from the smell of pancakes, and those pancakes weren't doing too well. I followed my nose to the simple, beige tiled kitchen.

"Morning." I said distracting the Doctor from his cookbook.

"Morning Alisha." He smiled, he was wearing the same suit as the day before, minus the jacket, but I spotted it on the back of one of the chairs at the table. His coat was probably still draped on the first column in the main chamber.

I looked at the stack of pancakes, they all ranged from not cooked at all, to I-got distracted-and-forgot-I-was-making-pancakes. "You've no idea how to make pancakes do you?"

"No..." He sighed "Not really."

"Here." I took the spoon and spatula away from him, I heard a sigh of relief as he passed the utensils to someone clearly more qualified in cooking matters.

I dipped the spoon in the batter and poured it into the pan. Seconds later I plopped a perfectly golden pancake onto the pile of failed ones.

"I was never good at this." He watched me work "Nine hundred years, and I still can't handle anything requiring a pan, or a pot."

"Don't worry about it." I joked "I can't draw a damn thing! You on the other hand..."

"Oh that was a doodle, some notes I took at the Academy."

"But it was a beautiful doodle!"

"Not even sure I can do that anymore..." His gaze grew distant "That was, ooh, lifetimes ago."

I stared at him "You are the weirdest guy." I shook my head in amazement at his terminology. A few minutes later, I finished the bowl of batter and we had a sizeable stack of edible pancake to enjoy.

"So I guess you'll want to go home?" He said, slightly pained.

"I have to, I have class at one o'clock." Strangely enough, I didn't want to go either.

"Actually..." He put down his silverware "I never told you want TARDIS stands for." I titled my head as a way of telling him to elaborate. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space." My eyes widened

"You've got a time machine?" My jaw dropped, again

"Oh yes."

"I could travel with you for months and still come back and take my class on time." My grin stretched from ear to ear, so did his, his brown eyes glinting in the white light.

"You got it." Somehow his smile got even wider, "So... Want to come?"

How could I refuse? "Yes." I laughed with joy "Oh god yes!"


	2. Dungeons and Dragons

"So I just hold this?" I asked, fiddling with the little rod the Doctor had given me.

"Vertically, yes" he came over and put it back in a vertical position. "And stand absolutely still." His tone had a slight warning about it. The scans were to be done once and once only…

So I stood absolutely still on my little pedestal, holding the little rod, the little arrow on it pointing up. I followed the Doctor with my eyes as he rushed about the med bay, trying to find some cable of another; which shouldn't have been very hard, since the entire room was full of stray parts. Finally a loud whirring sound came from the large camera like object in front of me.

"Aha!" he exclaimed "Okay, now let's see." He pressed a button of top of the camera and nothing happened, he frowned and hit it at which point it started to slowly move up and down. After doing its little va-et-vient about three times it stopped, and immediately, somewhere, a printer was valiantly trying to push the results through layers of spare parts.

"Can I move now?" I asked

"Yes." The Doctor answered absentmindedly as he relocated a reel of cable to unearth the printer.

I stuck the rod in my back pocket, not knowing what else to do with the strange little piece of advanced technology. I watched as more and more of the printer was seen, then the Doctor yanked out a large piece of translucent plastic. Like what you get after and x-ray. I peeked over his shoulder at the scan. Which for all I knew was an x-ray, there was my rib cage, my skull, and the rest of my 206-odd bones. Unlike an x-ray, the internal organs were a bit more detailed, there was my heart, there my lungs, at the bottom, the bunch of squiggles that were my intestines.

"That's odd…" he mumbled to himself.

"What?"

"You're not registering as a proper organic life form." He turned the sheet over, and back "It's in black and white" he gestured to the ensemble of the picture "It should've made the difference between bones, muscles and organs, and colored them accordingly." He pointed to each thing respectively "But here everything has been left uncolored. I might as well have scanned a plastic replica of your body and I would've gotten the same result."

I frowned, that was odd. I knew for a fact I was alive, that's for sure. I mean I was right here wasn't I. I wasn't plastic, I'd gotten paper cuts often enough to disprove that.

"The translator works when I'm touching you though." I said, adding information to the ante

"Yes, because then the TARDIS is working through me. I expect you to understand English, so it translates it into English for you." He ran a hand through his hair "But when you're on your own, it doesn't register you and assumes you're able to translate by yourself, like K-9."

"Who's K-9?" I asked, curious

"Robot dog of mine, gave him to a friend." His voice showed a slight hint of nostalgia.

"So the TARDIS doesn't think I'm a proper life form and hence doesn't grace me with translation?" I was slightly insulted.

"Yes…" he was bent over the print, which he'd placed on the printer. "Alisha?" he beckoned me over, I went to his side, pushing some circuitry to the side "You're heart's on your right." He tapped the little light spot that indicated the position of my heart.

"Yes." I said, here came the thing.

"You humans have your hearts on the left." He looked at me, waiting for an explanation.

"Dextrocardia." I stated simply.

"Ah…" he nodded slowly "So…"

"All my internal organs, are on the opposite side than where they should be." I finished his sentence for him.

"Ah…" he stared at the print for a moment "Sorry."

"It's okay, you've no idea the number of times I've had to correct the school nurses when they couldn't find my heart." I laughed

He laughed along with me, a light chuckle. He was thinking about something, or remembering.

"Anyway, what are we going to do about the translation thingy?" I asked, very simply because while alien languages were cool, it was a bit annoying to know I was supposed to understand but didn't.

"Ah yes! Come." He shot off into the corridor, as usual I had difficulty following.

Back in the central control room, I caught up to find him rummaging under the console.

"Here." He said getting to his feet, handing me what looked like a bluetooth earpiece. "This'll do the trick." I took the little device and looked to him, wordlessly asking for more information "It's a translator, does essentially the same thing than the TARDIS, but manually. It operates on the same level than the sonic, so you should register."

I nodded. It was the oddest thing, that on the surface, so the scans from the screwdriver and this earpiece, I was perfectly normal. But on a deeper level, I didn't even properly exist. I remembered all the fantasy and science-fiction books I'd read as I slid the earpiece in place. It slid in neatly, I knew it wouldn't fall off. Just to test it I gave my head a shake, I didn't move.

"So this'll work yeah?"

"Only of spoken words though. I'll have to translate for you if it's written." I shrugged, at least it was something. "How about we take it for a test run?" he asked, slowly edging towards the console, his eagerness to get moving was beyond visible.

"Ok. Where to?" I smiled, he was grinning like a child.

"Alisha, do you like fantasy? As a genre." he asked, peeking from behind the column.

"Yes, and?" I didn't understand how my reading preference related to where we were going.

"Dragons." He brought down the lever. I clung on to the railing while he valiantly tried to hold onto the console. By the time we landed he'd ended up sprawled on the floor.

"So where are we?" I asked, he hadn't answered the question the first time.

He sprang to his feet and leapt to the door "Rancash." He said, picking up his coat from the forked beam.

"And that is?" I asked, walking, more soberly, across the wire mesh.

"Come see." He had his hand on the doors, I joined him next to them.

We looked at each other and he flung the double doors open. I gaped at the amazing sight.

Mountains, as far as I could see, mountains; the pale blue sky cloudless with a bright, bright sun shining at its zenith. I could see the pines dotting the slopes of the tall rocky giants. It was beautiful. I stepped out, we were on a plateau. Looking around I realized, it wasn't just a simple shelf. It was the top. We were on top of a mountain! I breathed the thin air, its freshness brought a sweet smell I wasn't familiar with. I heard the door's squeal, the Doctor had closed the TARDIS, he was standing there, leaning against his ship, smiling.

"This is beautiful!" I exclaimed, exhilarated.

"Look." He pointed to the mountains beyond. The view was beautiful.

Suddenly the wind picked up a bit, I stared out into the distance, waiting to see whatever the Doctor had been pointing to. I strained my eyes to see the details on the far away slopes.

I didn't need to.

An enormous scaly figure swooped up from beneath us, shooting up into the sky, passing millimeters from the edge. I followed it into the sky, I recognized the jagged shape above me. I looked to the Doctor in awe.

"That's impossible." I breathed, he smirked "No… No! That can't be."

"Oh yes, it can." He said smiling.

"Dragons!" I laughed "Real-live, actual, living, breathing dragons!" I looked back out towards the mountains, now there were hundreds of them swooping around, playing in the wind. It had picked up quite a bit, but it wasn't cold as I'd expected it to be. I marveled at the wonderful sight. Scaly dancers in the wind, glint of red, green, blue and yellow in the sun.

"Shall we get a bit closer?" he took my hand, I grinned as we raced at breakneck speeds down a narrow path, the only thing keeping me from falling off the edge was the Doctor's hand.

We came upon a cave, its gaping mouth a pit of darkness. Suddenly dozens of torches along the walls blazed into life, I turned my head to the Doctor in surprise, he was standing next to the wall where I now saw a rope. He held up a lighter, the torches were connected in such a way that a single spark here would turn them all on. Like a light switch.

The hall was very long, it took us a good few minutes to reach the end. I marveled at the torches. The metal supports seemed to have been melted into place, the almost fluid quality was absolutely amazing.

"Here, look." The Doctor pointed through a small opening in the rock

I squeezed to see, my eyes widened. He wasn't joking about a closer look, within the large cavern were dozens and dozens of dragons. All shapes and sizes, all colors and hues. All milling about, talking to each other. I understood bits of conversation, some words hissed, others growled, others yawned into existence. There was a great green wyvern with big leathery wings arguing with a small red serpentine fellow. Neatly arranged into rows were large table, covered in various objects, from what looked like throw pillows that I could've used as a couch, to intricate decorations the size of hat stands.

"It's a market." I breathed, in awe at everything

"Shall we go take a look?" the Doctor said as he handed me a little bracelet.

"Won't they notice we look a bit odd?"

"Not with these things." He held up his little metal bracelet "Perception filters, unless you talk to them or run into someone, they won't notice us."

I nodded clipping the metal bracket around my wrist. A small blue light blazed into life before fading again. The filter was now active.

We walked through the isles bustling with dragons, I side-stepped to avoid colliding with a blue one the size of a horse plowing through an intersection. Then I ducked under the legs of a big maroon wyvern, hopped over an emerald dragon's tail, dodged an orange one's half-spread wings. When relative calm was achieved and I could stop I looked around me to find the Doctor but I realized I'd lost him. I quickly made my way to the edge of the market, completely lost, starting to panic. Squeezed against the wall, avoiding a fat yellow dragon also skirting the edge for speed of movement, his wing , lightly feathered, brushed past my face. He didn't notice, he must've figured he'd touched the wall. I followed in the fat reptile's wake, until I noticed a doorway. I stood in the arch, reveling in the relative peace the uncrowded space gave me. Uncrowded, there was no one behind me… I turned around a found myself staring at yet another wonder of the universe. Before me was a large room, in the center a round stone table topped with a large crystal suspended in a glass sphere. The entire ensemble shimmered in the light from two tall windows on the far side. The windows bordered what looked like an organ made of the same grey-green stone. The rest of the room was like an amphitheater surrounding the table. Judging by the monastic silence in the stone-walled room, I guessed this was some kind of holy-place, like a small church or something of the ilk.

I strode further into the room, marveling at the stone shimmering inside its watery hold. It wasn't held by anything, it just sat there, in perfect neutral buoyancy, suspended in the water. I got closer, examining the wonderful mineral. I noticed the air bubble in the center, not large enough to make it float if it were filled with air, but if it were some other gas…

I strolled to the back of the space, towards the organ. I stroked the stone pipes, they were damp. I wondered how they sounded, but didn't dare press one of the bright blue circular keys. I traced the edge of one of the keys, valiantly resisting temptation. There was a draft behind me, I felt a cold presence in my back. I tried to ignore it, no one could notice me right? The looming presence was still there, slowly, I turned around. I stood face to face with a short little dragon of the same color as the surrounding stones. Broken and battered horns suggested he was older, his emerald eyes, deep pools of calm, also betrayed his age.

"Little one, you here should not be." He said, his voice a song in my head, even through the translator. I stood there, completely still, star-struck. His head tilted, he seemed to look not at me per se, but at my very soul. "Oh, how lost you are. Poor little one."

"Lost?" I dared to say something. I was not understanding how he could have noticed me. None of the others did. Now his deep eyes were making me uncomfortable, the deepness of them seemed to have this almost hypnotic effect.

"Your soul in time is lost." he stepped around me, his tail dragging along the floor. "Banished it is, to the shadowed corners of the mind." His head hung low, the senior dragon was starting to scare me a little. His height was similar to mine, it was his words that gave me goose bumps. But he had my rapt attention, I could not break the concentration that had me hanging on his every word.

"Remember you will." he stepped away from me, somehow I got the impression he wanted me to follow, it might have been the light twitch of the tail, might have been the way he raised his slightly-too-small wings a little. Or a bit of both. He led me off behind the amphitheater bleachers, shifted his weight to his back legs to open the small door. Well, small for him, for me it was perfectly fine. I didn't enter the small room, it was dark and I didn't have a light. In stories, dragons were either there to instruct you, or to kill you and feast on your insides. While this little fellow seemed undisposed to innard feasting, I still didn't trust the room. I could've run away then, but something kept me there, like a kind of paralysis. I couldn't decide to move.

He emerged again, green-blue scales flashing as he entered the light again. I stepped back, keeping out of his way. For the first time, he really looked at me, at my face rather than slightly beyond it. It made me even more uncomfortable than before. Keeping his cryptic gaze level, he reached inside a small pouch slung around his neck with a nimble foreclaw, and pulled out something which he kept clenched in his short, time-worn claws. Shifting his weight as he did with the door, he took my hand. His grip was gentle, almost as if he was holding his own young. He had called me "Little one"…

"Do not let him see little one." He said as cryptic as ever "Remember." I felt something cold slip from his foreclaw into my hand. I felt the rough surface of his claws slide from my hand as he fell back to all fours, he had never let go of his intent gaze, my attention was focused on him until he broke the stare. I stood there, completely immobile as he slid back into the shadows.

"There you are!" I heard a familiar voice behind me "It's true I didn't tell you no to wander off, but really I thought it was obvious." I heard his footsteps come closer. "Alisha?" the sound of my name snapped me out of the kind of trance I'd been in.

"Yes?" I quickly slipped the object in my hand in my pocket, remembering the words of the old dragon

"What've you got there?" the Doctor stared at my pocket with worried curiosity

"Nothing." I lied, although I didn't have a clue of what it was I'd been given.

He nodded his eyes betraying his disbelief. "We'd best head back, by the time we get out of that mess…" he pointed to the throng of scaly flashes beyond the threshold. It had gotten even more crowded than before, if that was possible.

"Ok." I answered, my mind still muddled by what definitely was the oddest experience I'd had.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he was genuinely concerned, he knew something was up and I wasn't telling him.

"I'm fine." I stared into his eyes, almost willing him to stop asking "Really."

Reluctantly he nodded and moved on. "Now to get back to the TARDIS…" he gazed upon the tangle of dragons before us in the market place. "Well, there only one way to go about it…"

"What?" I had no idea what he meant

"Allons-y!" he exclaimed, taking my hand and leaping into the crowd, dragging me along.

Battered and slightly bruised we emerged on the other side of the market, panting. We'd failed to not bump into anyone, but there was such a crowd we managed to go somewhat unnoticed.

"That wasn't fun." I breathed, leaning on my knees

"No…" he was leaning against the wall, he clearly didn't have as much difficulty running "Not really."

"So now we go back?" I asked, slowly recovering

"Yeah…" he was not paying attention.

"What is it?"

"Those three." He pointed.

A party of three dragons were heading towards a side tunnel slightly across from the one we were on. A short and slightly fat marine one, a tall and thin burgundy wyvern, and a muscular bronze, proudly striding flanked by his teammates. On the whole I could understand the Doctor's distrust, they looked like a pair of mismatched friends up to no good. I watched them go down the tunnel and almost disappear into the distance. I felt the Doctor tap my shoulder.

"Come." He whispered, I followed, slightly confused

"Why are we following them." I asked as quietly as he did

"I have a bad feeling about this."

My heart sank a little, just because you had a "bad feeling" about something doesn't mean you have to go poke it with a stick either. I reluctantly trotted behind him as he walked close to the wall, following the trio. We followed them for what seemed like miles before the three scaly troublemakers stopped at the fork between two tunnels.

"The queen in two quarts will pass." The bronze one said "On the left with Qullr I will go, you Rriek will go right. There we meet, what to do you know." Then they separated, the blue one was Qullr, the red Rriek, I nicknamed the bronze "Leader".

"This is not good." The Doctor said under his breath as they walked away.

"What?"

"Those are three assassins, Qullr, Rriek and Sersr." Again I was amazed at his command of the names, he didn't even slow down to pronounce them correctly "They attempt to kill the Holy Queen Mother of Rancash, Ilbionn." I smirked at the unnecessarily long title.

"Attempt?" that usually meant the attack was unsuccessful.

"She survives." He said, sighing "No one knows how, only the assassins plot didn't go as planned and they were discovered."

"So?" I was slightly confused as to why he looked so… unwilling, like a schoolboy who was being given extra homework.

"I just didn't expect it to be me." He complained. All of a sudden I understood, the Queen survives only because someone saved her by foiling the trio's plot before it started. That someone happened to be them.

"Oh well…" he shrugged "Better get a move on then. Best not to change history." And he started off down after the duo "You take the other one!" he called to me

"But…" I stuttered "I don't know what to do!"

"I don't know either, you can figure something out!" he said before dashing off down the corridor.

I jogged my length off tunnel; there was no way I was breaking out into a sprint. Not now, not ever. Eventually I saw the red wyvern, just sitting on the edge of the parapet leading to the outside. There were little balconies on this section of tunnel; the daylight was a welcome addition. I looked outside, and immediately saw the plan. At this point the mountains formed a natural bottle neck, if the Queen was flying through… She noticed what looked like a large crossbow propped up under the ledge. The wyvern's long tail coiled neatly around it, not on it, but forming a little barrier, an early warning system. Other dragons passed by, I dodged; they didn't see the crossbow, neatly shoved in the shadows, as was the red wyvern. They hadn't noticed either me or him. The good thing was: red-scales couldn't notice me either.

Smiling I tiptoed to the parapet, ducking under the ledge to be at the same level as the weapon, I examined it; much like an Earth-made crossbow, except for a load of extra lines that probably added extra power. The entire mesh of string had a thin shaft cleared for the bolt, which was already in it. I tried to take the bolt. I didn't succeed. How I failed at such a simple task was unnerving, I tried again, the crossbow fell, clattering to the floor. The wyvern shifted to look at what had happened to the key to his success. I squeezed myself against the parapet, praying that he'd not see me. I had a flash of déjà-vu. Squeezing against a wall, avoiding someone who desperately wanted me found, flashes of scarlet. The wyvern didn't see me, he simply set the crossbow upright again with a claw, much like an owl or an eagle would, and resumed watching the skies. I risked a peak over the edge, I could see something of a commotion further on, so did Rriek. He casually picked up the long-range weapon in one claw, shifting his weight so that standing on one leg was easier. The procession was advancing fast, I could now make out a set of gold bedecked guards flying in formation in front of something white. The crossbow clicked as he set a claw on the trigger. My thoughts whirled, I heard the Doctor saying not to change history. History said the Queen lived. I now made out the Queen herself, her pale yellow scales draped in thin white fabric like a veil. She looked magnificent, her delicate wings like mother-of-pearl in the sunlight. I heard the crossbow again, imagined what would happen if that bolt were to go through one of those wings. The Queen lived, history said nothing about me.

I threw myself at the wyvern, who let out a startled squawk as I, the unexpected attacker, hit his side. The bolt flew out, he must've pressed the trigger by reflex. It harmlessly buried itself into the rock of the ceiling. In the meantime, I was suffering for my rudeness. I felt my warm blood trickle in various places, my struggle with the burgundy mass of scales was punctuated by sharp pains, in my shoulders, thighs, everywhere. Battling against a dragon bare handed was not a pleasant experience. Especially for one so unexperienced as me.

Unexperienced? Not so sure.

I rolled on my side, away from Rriek, and stood up. I saw the glare in his eyes, he wanted to fight, I saw it and smiled, "Bring it on Puff." I taunted. Why was I doing this? Provoking him would only make matters worse! Rriek lunged at me with a roar that'd curdle the blood of the mightiest warrior of every Earth fairy-tale. I dodged, simply. But the effect was spectacular. Rriek, taken by momentum, didn't have to time, or perhaps the wit, to spread his wings and slow down. He hit the wall of the tunnel head first. His body slumped to the floor, unconscious. For a second, I looked at the sprawled red dragon and smiled at my handiwork. Then I didn't. What had I done? How had I done it? What was all this?

I must've gotten lost in my confusion, I tried to clear my head, but it just didn't work. I was still standing there when the Doctor came looking for me. I remember him leading me back to the TARDIS, muttering on about scratches and stitches.

Hours later, I was examining the little trinket I'd been given by the senior dragon on Rancash. Sitting on the bed back in the TARDIS, wounds bandaged. I traced the odd little pattern on the crystal. It was very much like the crystal in the jar at the temple; a radiant purple-blue crystal, cut like a pendant, strung on a simple leather strip; a simple necklace, even though it obviously was more than it seemed. "Do not let him see little one" The words echoed in my mind. I didn't know what this thing did, from what I'd experienced after getting it in the first place; I don't think I liked it. The Doctor would know…

I couldn't show him, I mustn't show him. Not under any circumstances

I didn't know how I knew, I just did. "Remember you will." Another echo; remember what? "Your soul in time is lost. Banished…" My soul was right here wasn't it? I mean, if it weren't I wouldn't be thinking right now... Would I?

I didn't know. And that scared me. I put the little flat crystal in the drawer of the nightstand, shut the lights off, and crawled into bed. I sat there for a while, thinking. This was going to be a long night.


	3. Data Ghosts

"Oh…." The Doctor stepped out into the open. "Erm…" I didn't understand his confusion so I followed him outside "No, this isn't the Incas, must've taken a wrong turn around the 1640's…" He turned around and pushed me back inside. "Go on back inside, we'll try again."  
"But look at this place!" I gazed out at the sinewy trees with twisted branches and blood-red leaves. "A bit sinister but it's beautiful!" I took a step forwards.

"Alisha we really shouldn't be here, now let's go." The Doctor seemed nervous

"And why not? Is it dangerous? Do we run the risk of getting strangled by killer trees?" I waved my arms at the trees to prove my point "Come on, just for a little bit, a little walk around." I gave him my best puppy dog eyes, he frowned

"Ok fine, but just ten minutes." He strode out of the ashen grass into the fog, I kept close. Getting lost in this fog was entirely possible and very undesirable "Stay close, don't wander off." He stressed the point of "not wandering off"; I think he was remembering last time.

The fog had wrapped its long fingers around us, even now I was only a meter from the Doctor but there was a thin layer of wispy cloud-stuff between me and him. This wasn't as fun as I thought… Fog is just an expanse of white, the forest on the other hand was delightfully creepy. I wanted to see more of those trees, and perhaps what lived in them. The fog was thinning, but it still showed no other signs of ending. It looked around, still staying close, a pale blue shape caught my eye, I focused on it.

"Doctor?" I called into the mist

"Yes?"

"What's that?" I pointed at the little bluish wisp of light.

"Don't pay attention to it." He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the little blue light. A bare minute later the fog abruptly ended.

We were standing on a promontory, looking out onto a vast forest of twisted trees. That's sent of delightful shiver down my spine. Horror movies were always a sweet spot to me, the adrenaline rush was the most pleasant feeling. I took in the panorama of trees with bloody-leaves, the entire thing shrouded in mist the only light coming through the deathly dark sky was a hazy moon. Wait no, two moons, one smaller than the other, both hideously blurred. Beyond that, hills, inky black hills barely resolved in the distance. Looming darkly against the darkness; and there wasn't a sound, not a screech or a hum or even a howl. The wind was nothing but a light breeze, not enough to clear the fog. The still air was cool and wet, making little ashen pearls of the ashen grass.

"Wow." I whispered, almost not daring to break the silence.

"The Blood Forests of Sintori." The Doctor said "The planet is shrouded in endless clouds and a third moon, which is actually a planet, constantly eclipses the sun. Every life form here is used to the dark and the cold."

"No animals?"

"No that anyone knows of." He invited me to sit down as he did the same "But there are legends that say the planet is haunted, that there once was a day." He went into storytelling mode, I listened eagerly, this was better than the best campfire ghost story. "But then the third moon came into orbit, a rogue planet, falling neatly amidst the other two, blocking the sun, plunging Sintori into endless night. At first there was a no commotion, everyone and everything thought it was normal, like in your Scandinavia." I listened he had my rapt attention. His storytelling was exquisite. "But the night lasted longer, and longer and longer. For months on end, when the months turned into years, the people started to panic, frantically searching for the cause of this star-less night. Then they died; all of them, vertebrate, invertebrate, down to the smallest bacteria. Any animal life form suddenly vanished, leaving the forest to conquer the land and, eventually, even the seas beyond the hills. No one knew what happened, some say it was a virus that attacked all animal life and ended up killing even itself. Some say the search somehow brought them to invent an energy pulse, supposed to push the third moon out of orbit, but killed them instead. But the real cause has never been found; ever since, the planet has been haunted by the ghosts of the people and animals of the planet, leading travelers away from their path, out into the fog and to their certain deaths."

I sat there for a minute lingering as the last words echoed in my ears. I looked out onto the forest again, imagining it under sunlight and populated. But I couldn't now only silence remained, silence mist and twisted trees.

"So that's what the blue light was? A ghost." I said remembering the figure in the fog

"According to the legend." He said, ever so dramatic. "But that's just a story."

I gave a nervous laugh, the chilly air was now full of ghosts and faint apparitions, remnants of the souls of this planet. I glanced at the sky, a bright circle was rising above the hills.

"That is the dawn." He said pointing to the growing hoop of light in the distance "The sun, always hidden behind that moon, barely illuminating anything, even at its zenith." We looked at the cloud-veiled eclipse for a moment, before the Doctor got up, dusting himself off.

"We'd better go, the "ghosts" are more active during the day." He extended his hand to help me up.

"You're not saying you believe all those stories do you?" I looked at him, trying to discern whether his worry was genuine or not.

"Not really, but there is always an element of truth behind myths, and I don't want to cross one of those "spirits" and have them lead you to your death. Now come on." He started off into the mist behind us, I followed reluctantly.

Getting out of the fog seemed much faster this way, we came out into a small clearing, normally the TARDIS should've been there in front of us, but all I say was more twisted trees with bark like dried blood.

"This is not good is it…" I stated, staring at the empty space before us

"No…" The Doctor was frowning "Not at all."

We canvassed the clearing, and, after a good ten minutes of hoping we were not lost, determined we were in fact, lost. Suddenly the twisted trees of Sintori weren't cool fixtures for a creepily decorative display; they were bloodthirsty sadists watching as we slowly lost our minds in their endless embrace. I felt my breathing become rapid. Watching a horror movie was easy, being in one was an entirely different experience. Now I felt fear, not an irrational fear of the dark, not a short-lived jumpscare, not the mild trauma after a terrifying movie. Proper fear, were the fight-or-flight response was unable to lock on to a specific target, where your terrified mind just ran in circles. I heard my name, it didn't register. Stuck, the trees were closing in, the branches seemed to move liquidly towards me. I backed up, step by step, trying to close out the trees and their blood-soaked arms. All of a sudden all my nightmares came to life, the shadow monster of my childhood, the thing under the bed, just waiting for you to step off. The fires all around, the burning city.

What city?

The crystal pendant beneath my shirt had been warm from my own body heat, but now it cooled and I felt it's weight hanging limply from my neck.

The burning city, the dark, hunted, surrounded. My mind couldn't cope, I felt a hand on my shoulder, unexpected, I jumped to face my attacker. I saw a familiar face, heard a soothing sound, he told me to relax, I tried and failed. Then darkness.

At first there was nothing, I couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel, nothing; just drifting. Then I felt the ground beneath me, gravity holding me down, the grass soft like snow. I still heard nothing, see nothing. Then there was the metal tang of lightning rapidly eclipsed by air heavy with rain. The air before a storm, heavy with premonition, the air that sent all animals scurrying home; that made cattle flee to barns, and the birds put up the bars to their nests. The air before something came, something that left destruction in its wake. A shake, gravity still held me down; I heard a faint mumble in the distance, it got closer, worried. My mind drifted into the nothingness, consciousness following suit. My eyes were closed and a voice was calling my name. I forced myself to move. My head hurt. I opened my eyes and stared into the ink black sky, the hazy moon almost reassuring in its coldness.

"Alisha? Are you alright?" the Doctor sounded worried

"I-I think so…" I rubbed my temple "What happened?"

"You had a panic attack." He said helping me on my feet "I had to knock you out."

"Really?" I was slightly startled by this "Why?"

"Judging by your reaction, you were in no position to calm down on your own."

"Oh…" I shrugged

"Anyway, that doesn't change the fact that we are still lost." He looked around "Oh hello…"

I turned to see what had caught his attention, a spotted the ghostly blue deer-like being. Instead of two horns it only had one, but it fanned out like a crown from the top of its head. It was beautiful. It took a few steps forward, towards us, nodded its noble head and turned around, slowly walking off.

We looked at other and followed suit. It wasn't as if we had any other leads.

The deer stood out quite clearly, it's light blue against the dark red of the trees. It would often stop and turned around just to make sure we were still there. It seemed rather polite for a death omen.

It led us out of the forest and before us stood a city. Grey stones bathed in darkness even under the eclipse. The deer had vanished.

"That's odd." The doctor said straining his eyes to see in the distance.

"What?"

"You see that?" He pointed to something within the citadel "That little light right there." I saw nothing

"No."

"There right above the wall." I followed his directions trying to pierce the darkness. Then I saw it

"Ah yeah…" I focused on the tiny point of light "But I thought everything was dead."

"It is." He frowned "And if this planet is dead, then why is there a light?"

"Thrill seeking traveler?" I proposed

"No, not this century, the planet was cordoned off after being declare unsafe for travelers." He was thinking hard. "Anyone here would be breaking the law."

"Us included?"

"Us included."

We paused.

"Well, it's no use standing out here!" he exclaimed, starting towards the darkened city.

"You're not saying…" I really didn't want to see the inside of the fortress, if the stories were true…

"Might as well go inside and see for ourselves." He resumed walking "Come on."

Reluctantly I followed. We strode down the ashen gray hill wards the citadel. As we approached it we saw the writing. On the walls the pavement everywhere, the entire entrance was covered in it.

"Stay out", "Beware", "Run for your life", all written in the shaky handwriting of terrified travelers. We walked past the entrance the frequency of the warnings ebbed.

The city was deserted completely empty, the pavement was cracking as dwarfed blood-trees forced their sinewy selves out of the ground beneath it. Crimson leaved ivy grew on the walls of buildings covering stone like steel like glass. It was abandoned, and it had been so for centuries. The light was back into view, from a large square-ish building a few streets down. By the time we'd reached door, the Doctor had taken out his screwdriver, it was bleeping coldly in the complete and utter silence of the abandoned citadel, the shrill noise oddly sinister despite its innocuous intentions.

The glass door was covered in moss and ivy and the hinges creaked horribly when we opened it. Worse than the TARDIS doors, that was a tell that the doors was opening, this was the deathly screech of a harpy guarding its nest.

We stepped into the empty hall, our steps echoing in the silence. The potted plants had enlarged their dominion, ferns leaving the pots and moving to the desks, everything seemed covered in a thin layer of dirt. The screwdriver still beeped, the doctor shut it off.

"Well, now we need to find our little light." He said quietly, as if in a library.

"But where do we start?" I asked

"Good question indeed!" an unfamiliar voice stated cheerfully.

We both turned around to face the young man sitting on the desk. He hadn't been there a second ago, and he wasn't a "ghost". We both stared, then an entire section of his chest glitched.

"Oh, you're a hologram!" the Doctor said

"Yes, you got a problem with that?" he said snarkily, flipping a stray fringe of blonde hair out of the way.

"But where are you transmitting from? There no one here…" The Doctor started to pull out his screwdriver again.

"Ah-ah-ah, don't you come near me with that! I know what those things do." He hopped onto the other side of the desk, a leaf cutting right through his left arm. "I am the interface for the S-Delta-5 Computer Core. At your service." He bowed, oblivious to the fact the entirety of his left arm was now ensconced in a fern. "You can call me Sintiq."

"You're still working?" I asked

Sintiq looked confused for a moment, stared into the distance then focusing back on me.

"Yes…" he looked to the Doctor. "Two questions, one: What's a Time Lord doing here? Two: Why are you travelling with an android? I mean the organic circuitry is beautiful…" he winked at me "But really! Have you guys finally started to loathe your own company?"

"Doctor?" I didn't even bother to ask the question

"Yeah, thought that might happen." He made a face "Remember when I told you you didn't register as a proper life form?"

"Yes…"

"You know what else is humanoid and doesn't register as a proper life form?"

"Oh."

"Until I can figure out why, you're just going to have to deal with it." he shrugged "Just act normal…"

I sighed.

"Have you two finished whispering to each other?" Sintiq said, back on the table "You know it's very rude to talk behind someone's back when you're standing in front of them."

"Sorry." I said, he didn't seem to hear.

"So names?" Sintiq continued "And you still haven't answered my questions."

"I'm the Doctor and this is Alisha." The Doctor answered for both of us "We're just here for fun really, and I'm testing this model, seems to be working fine so far. But glitch at times though." He ruffled my hair.

"Hey!" I pushed his arm away, he laughed.

"Touchy too…" Sintiq snickered, he was smiling at me, his ever-so-slightly transparent image was looking creepier than ever.

"Is there anything else apart from you working?" the Doctor asked "We saw a light from the hill."

"Ah, that would be Operation Daylight." Sintiq answered coolly "Last project the Sinto ever attempted."

"And what is Operation Daylight?" I asked, puzzled as to what they could've done to eject the third moon. At least, that's what I assumed it did.

"Better to show you." He flickered out and reappeared a few meters away "Follow me." He said and started walking, we followed.

Following our holographic guide through the corridors was quite a curious experience. Whenever the range of one holographic transmitter was out, he would glitch out and re-appear in the range of another transmitter, usually a pace or two forward. We passed a large vault, the door was completely grown over, and I could see a piece of a warning sign on the floor.

"What's in there?" I asked Sintiq, curious. He didn't turn around. "Sintiq?" I called a bit louder. Still no response. "Sintiq!" I cupped my hands and shouted. Now he turned around.

"Sorry." He apologized, letting us catch up "You were saying?"

"What's behind that door?" I pointed behind me to the approximate location of the door

"The main computer core, i.e. Me." He smiled and leaned in closer to whisper "I'll let you see later, I'm a bit rusty but I'm sure you won't be dissapointed" He winked again, resuming his tour. I blushed.

I couldn't believe it! A computer was flirting with me! I glanced at the Doctor who was smiling ridiculously, evidently repressing a chuckle.

"How did he do that?" I asked the Doctor "He actually whispered in my ear, but he's just an image."

"You know ventriloquism?"

"Yeah"

"Like that, but for computers." He explained "Plus you're wearing the translator, which he can probably use as a proxy."

"Oh." I nodded.

We continued walking for a bit, then Sintiq stopped in front of another vault door, which kindly opened at our approach.

"My Lord, milady…" he nodded to each of us, smiling warmly when he nodded to me. "Operation Daylight, he gestured grandly towards the room beyond the threshold.

It had no roof to speak of, it was open to the sky. The walls were covered in plants, just as everything else was. But both the Doctor's gaze and mine were fixed on the only thing on this planet that wasn't covered in plants, or much of anything. The large telescope-like piece of machinery in the middle of the room was at least ten meters high and was shimmering with heat. A bright glow emanated from the tip and it emitted a deep rumble like a very large purring cat.

"This is an energy weapon. E-Class at least! This could blow an entire planet to dust in a single shot!" the Doctor turned to Sintiq "What were the Sinto doing with this?" he asked

"Pardon?" Sintiq asked

"What were the Sinto doing with a planet-destroyer?" The Doctor articulated every word.

"Ah, sorry. They built it, to get rid of the moon." He pointed to the dim halo in the sky. "At least they thought it was a moon, it's actually a planet, which is why when they fired, they missed."

"They fired that into space?" I asked shocked

"Yep." He popped the 'p'. "Massive energy discharge, right up into the sky, didn't do them much good. Sent me reeling, and that's saying something."

"What happened to the people?" I continued asking, the Doctor was frowning at the over-heated… laser? Blaster? Whatever it was.

"Don't know, by the time I'd self-diagnostiqued myself into functioning, there wasn't a single animal life-form on the planet." He sighed "Actually while you're here, if you could give my circuitry a look and a dust that would be nice."

"They're out of phase." The Doctor said out of the blue

"What?" Sintiq and I said simultaneously

"The people." He turned to us "They're out of phase. That blast warped the space-time continuum and blasted a hole through it. Now this,-" he pointed to the blaster "Has an energy footprint large enough to mask seven suns, so it pulled itself and the planet back to where it was, but anything not secured to the planet was left behind."

"So everyone else…" I trailed

"Is stranded on, possibly, the other side of the Universe. Or worse, in the Void."

"What's the Void?"

"The space between dimensions, if they didn't fully cross onto the next plane, that's where they are. Neither here nor there. Ghosts." His voice had changed, gone was the happy-go-lucky man with a box, here was a man with a mission and a purpose. And that purpose was greater than any single planet, it was a duty to Time itself.

"Can't they come back?" Sintiq asked, his voice wavering a bit. It was odd to hear a computer with sadness in his voice, I'd always thought they didn't have emotions. I looked at his semi-transparent face, he missed the people milling about the building. I could tell.

"Not with this thing active." The Doctor said. "It's keeping the breach open, when it closes, they should come back."

"So what are we waiting for!" Sintiq exclaimed "We shut that thing off, we get everyone back yeah?" his smile was so hopeful, it was almost hard to see him as an interface at this point.

I was actually starting to like him.

"They might not come back." The Doctor was hesitating "When we shut it off, the breach'll close, but there's no telling which side they'll stay on. For all we know we could be locking them permanently onto empty space."

"But we have to try!" Sintiq wimpered "I can't stay like this much longer." The words dropped out. He bowed his head "Please, I need them back. The only thing that kept me going at this point is the hope that someone might come along and bring all of them back." He smiled sadly "Look at me, I'm half deaf. Who's ever heard of that, a deaf computer! That's ridiculous. I've lost the sensors to the entire south wing, the generators are failing, the memory banks are only holding thanks to self-diagnostics… I'm breaking down!" A tear slid down his translucent cheek. I really hadn't expected computers to have emotions. If I could hold him I would, but I'd only go through. "You have to try… Please… I'm the last memory of Sintori. If I die it dies." He sniffed and wiped away the tear. "You can't know it, but it hurts to be the last."

The Doctor's eyes veiled over with sadness again. I wondered why, I wasn't going to ask, he'd tell me in his own time. But it went deep. Very deep.

"Okay then!" again the sadness disappeared and he started to take off his coat as he leaped into the room "First we need to decrease the power to this thing, Sintiq can you do that?" he asked as he flung the long trench coat onto a dwarfed tree, draping the poor thing in brown cloth.

"I can." Sintiq was positively beaming. First there was a hum and the dull rumble of the planet-blaster, toned down.

"Thank you." He bounced around the base of the apparatus, flipping controls that had barely started to cool down. "Alisha, hold this steady for me." I trotted over and gingerly held the little lever. It was small, so it cooled down faster, but I still had to switch hands frequently.

"Great! Now push it up a bit" the Doctor asked from around the bend. I lifted the lever, the rumble increased its frequency… "Oh no you don't." the Doctor whizzed back around to flip a switch next to me. The rumble came back down.

For a good five or ten minutes, I stood there with Sintiq as the Time Lord ran circles around us, pressing buttons and telling me to hold this or that. By the time he finally stopped running, I felt I was playing twister with the panel. I looked at Sintiq, who's wistful gaze indicated his wish to be a part of the action. Being incorporeal, there wasn't much he could do, poor guy.

"There!" The Doctor skidded to a halt next to a larger lever. "I bring this down and the breach closes." Sintiq's smile stretched from ear to ear in anticipation.

"So what are we waiting for?"

"You." The Doctor said, smiling. I smiled as I got his drift.

"Don't be silly, I can't interact with anything." He passed his hand through a bit of pipe "Hologram remember?"

"Doesn't mean you can't pretend." I said. Sintiq smiled again. I watched him walk over to the lever, then run. His image was almost completely glitched now he was so excited. Entire portions of his body would be a full pace ahead of the rest of it. But he was oblivious to it and happy.

That was why the Doctor did what he did. For that feeling. I knew it now. It wasn't the beautiful views or the strange and wonderful creatures. It was the adventure and putting a bit more color in people's dull, sad, grey lives, putting adventure into the humdrum of routine. And watching them smile.

They brought the lever down together, Sintiq keeping his hands hovering above the Doctor's. The low rumble disappeared with a clang of cooling metal, immediately afterwards the ground shook; an earth quake. The sky boiled into angry clouds, swirling overhead; a hurricane. A whine filled the air, a high pitched whine, I covered my ears, even the Doctor looked pained as he held onto the console. The whine got louder and louder, then stopped. All of a sudden. The earth stabilized, the clouds froze. It was as if Time had stopped. The air was heavy with anticipation. Then, one fraction of a second too late, it was as if the entire planet dropped through space about a meter. We fell to the ground, Sintiq's image glitched out and disappeared as section of wall fell. Overhead a thunderstorm was brewing, adding to the already deafening noise of something that sounded like a thousand avalanches.

I curled up into a ball to protect myself from the falling debris from basically everywhere.

Fire, Death, Destruction.

The fear hit me like a train, I saw the blazing city.

Loss, Fear, Sadness.

Another truck load of emotion, I wailed soundlessly into the storm.

DANGER!

I rolled to the side just in time to avoid a slab of concrete that came crashing down where I'd been a moment ago.

I didn't dare look around, for fear of exposing myself to the rage of the Time-Space continuum or whatever was causing this hell. I just held on, waiting for it to stop.

And it did.

First the ground stood still, and the avalanches quieted, the clouds rolled back and all was still. I stayed still for a moment, curled up on the floor, halfway under the console. A minute later I dared to move, slowly rising, small bits of rubble rolling of my back. I dusted myself off, looking up in time to see the Doctor doing the same thing a bit further on. He picked his way towards me.

"You alright Alisha?"

"I think so." I repressed a shudder as I thought about the rather traumatic emotions from earlier.

"Right then…" he looked around. "Time to see if it worked. Where's Sintiq?"

I looked around the ruined room "No idea…"

"Huh… The transmitter must've broken with the walls." The doctor mused.

We picked our way back towards the entrance, the archway had fallen, leaving a gaping hole in the architecture. The Doctor picked up his coat from the plant as we passed by it. It had been relatively untouched, oddly enough, sturdy little plant.

The corridors were a mess, plants had toppled, bits of ceiling and wall had fallen, crushing light-starved bushes. I kept an eye out for a flicker in the air, but I didn't see any. I kept an ear out for a flirtatious whisper, but it never came.

We traced our steps, crossing in front of the large vaulted door that held Sintiq's mainframe. I stopped. The door was warped, the arch had collapsed, as if the ceiling above had fallen.

"Doctor?" I called, he stopped and turned around "Shouldn't we take a look, see if he's alright?"

He sighed, and gave the mangled door a sad look, then he pulled out his screwdriver. "Don't expect good news." He said as he opened the door.

Despite my better judgment, I had hoped Sintiq was alright. He wasn't. I gazed upon the towers of processors, half of them toppled, all of them covered in moss, one completely crushed by a slab of concrete, none of them alight. The computer was silent, there wasn't a whirr, or a hum, or a single flickering light in sight.

I wasn't disappointed, he was beautiful; beautiful, but dead. I walked out towards the nearest stack of circuits, I traced the thin metal brackets covered in thin foliage. I looked back towards the Doctor, we both gave the same sad smile as we looked out to our electronic friend. I waded a bit further into the forest of silicate, brushing aside a liana. He'd offered… I let a tear slide down my cheek.

I turned around abruptly. I couldn't I just couldn't.

Loss, Grief, Anger.

Not now, now was not the time for emotions that weren't mine.

Except they were.

I joined the Doctor at the entrance, he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Okay?"

"No." I gave in to tears and he pulled me in for the hug, I yielded.

I sobbed into his chest, his warm embrace doing its best to comfort me. But at the moment I was very near inconsolable. Eventually my tears ebbed, I wiped my eyes and nose on my sleeve, shook my head and tried to smile. It was a sad smile, very sad, but the Doctor understood. Of course he did, my impossible friend. I saw it in his eyes, the jolly personality was a front to oh so much pain. Pain just like mine right now; times a thousand.

"Come on." He led me out the door "We'd best be going."

We made our way out of the building, the doors didn't screech on our way out, very simply because they didn't exist anymore, the glass had shattered.

At least Sintiq hadn't died for nothing. As we walked out of the city, we crossed a few people. They were dazed and confused and didn't even see us walking away. But they were there, Sintori was alive again.

The moon, or rather planet, still eclipsed the sun, and the planet was till dark. But at least it was alive. It's people would appreciate that now.

The storm had cleared away the fog, now the TARDIS stood out quite clearly again the trees. We doors creaked as we entered. The ship welcomed us cheerfully, welcomed the two sad and weary travelers returning to base before setting out anew.

I let myself fall onto the seat next to the console, The Doctor sat next to me.

"It doesn't get better." He said "But if you keep him here-" he put his hands on my heart "you can remember him as he was." his eyes were full of compassion, like he knew the feeling. He was centuries old, I knew he knew the feeling.

"Is that how you do it?" I asked, my voice slightly hoarse.

"I try." He said, we stared at the console, listening to the rhythmic hum of the TARDIS.

We were lost in our own thoughts, mine wandered to the flirty hologram whose company I'd grown to enjoy. The Doctor's… Who knows? Who knows who he's lost and who he's loved and cared for. Many wonderful things could be done in nine centuries, but so can just as many tragedies. And tragedies last longer. Pain always does.


	4. The Chimera's Tail

The TARDIS landed with a rumble, I sauntered over to the doors. Upon opening one of them I stared in confusion.

Snow, a park, a bench with an armchair carved into it, the sides a bit melted.

Where it all started.

"Doctor?" I shot him a confused glance.

"You told me you had class at one o'clock." He was leaning on the console "I think it's time you took it." He paused, I lifted an eyebrow

"But-"

"But what? Your classes are boring?" He interrupted "Alisha listen…" The Doctor walked over. "I don't want you to run away from the life you had. Here you have a family and friends, and people who love you. You can have that daily routing, coffee in the morning, pizza for lunch, telly before bed… That's something very special, and it's something you can lose. In here" he gestured behind him to the inside of the ship. "You can lose time, lose yourself. Especially if you run away from something."

I caught his drift, although what prompted this… I guess I'd never know. I stared out at the snow covered park.

"You've only been gone a day." He said "Your class will be in an hour."

Hesitantly I stepped out onto the snow, when he'd said cold weather I'd put on what I came in with, now… Now it only made more sense. He was kicking me out. What had I done?

I turned around "Will I see you again?" I asked almost afraid to hear the reply.

"Of course!" he said it like it was obvious. Which it wasn't "I'm only making sure you get your education little miss." He laughed, I managed a nervous chuckle.

"So this is goodbye for now?"

"Goodbye for now."

I watched silently as the door closed and the blue box started to disappear with that awful sound I'd grown to love. Within thirty seconds it was gone and I was alone in the park, staring at the empty space where my dreams used to lie. I sighed, tightened my scarf around my neck and walked away.

I walked back to my flat, thinking along the way. Remembering the days that, technically, didn't exist. But they were beautiful days, I'd seen things I'd never dreamed of, and things I had dreamed of. My dreams had come true.

And now I was back in my own life, back to the white walled flat, back to the Lit classes and noisy neighbors. No more stars or planets or moons, juts life. Neon lights and HB pencils, and warm apple juice in the morning.

Warm apple juice in the morning… I turned the corner as I thought about my daily routine. I sort of understood what the Doctor had meant. You only realize what you have until you've lost it. I guess a "normal" life was one of them. Especially to him, to him who doesn't and can't have that kind of life. He is alone, timeless, his only company are his ship and the books in the library. And me. For a little while… Me. But I cannot stay, not forever. I have a life and people who will miss me if I don't come back, and noticed if something has changed.

And even if I did stay…

I remembered our conversation that first day, he was over 900 years old. My own life was only a fraction of his, a fleeting moment, a burst of laughter and happiness. And then it's gone…

I reached the door to my building, thoroughly depressed. I type the code for the door, it buzzed loudly, I pushed the door. There was nothing in the mail, the inner door was already open, the wooden doorstop contrasting lightly against the white tile floor. The elevator was taken, I took the stairs, one step at a time.

I was back home, staring at the bright yellow door who's chipping paint revealed a turquoise undercoat. I fiddled with my keys, looking for the right one. Here it was, home, the end of an adventure the restart of an old routine.

I slide the key in the lock. It clicked the bolt slid back, I pressed the handle, it squeaked cheerfully as I stepped into my flat. It'd been weeks since I'd been here and yet there wasn't that musty paint-smell of an uninhabited apartment. A leaned against the door, the clock on the wall said it was a quarter past noon.

I went into my room to change, the full length mirror heartlessly showed me myself. I stared into my own grey eyes, smoothed an unruly curl of dark hair back behind my ear. I took off my coat and scarf and flung them towards the bed. They landed a full meter short.

Stripping, I watched my own movements in the mirror, I was a bit fitter than when I left. Not by much, but not a single days workout. Let alone a night. I let my eyes linger on the thin jagged line running from the base of my neck down to my collarbone and back up to the middle of my shoulder. The Doctor had been quite good at managing to make my wounds from Rancash heal without much scarring. This was the only real visible remnant of my painful run in with the red wyvern.

The mirror faced me with all the reason why the Doctor had sent me back home. But I still resented him for it.

Weren't we having fun? Wasn't it all good?

No it wasn't, people had died. I thought of Sintiq, the flirty computer had really made an impression on my heart. Oddly enough, he'd been kind of sweet.

And now he was gone. He hadn't even been built yet. But he'd died because of us.

I picked an orange and red sweater out of the drawer and put it on over a pair of jeans. It looked OK, I'd never had much interest for those colors, but right now I just felt like it. I retrieved my coat from the floor, my watch said twelve thirty. Time to get to class.

By the time I got to the door of my Lit class it was twelve forty five. The bell rang, I stepped into the amphitheater along with a hundred or so other students. I took a seat in the dead middle of the assembly. Opened my notebooks, set up my pencil case, got comfortable… My neighbors did the same, and all at once the space went quiet as everyone waited for the lecture to start.

Professor James sauntered in with a jolly "Good afternoon." As was usual. Recited a litany of page numbers for us to open our books to and began the lesson.

It went by so, so slowly. One word at a time, dragging itself along. The large clock limping through the second. I doodle in the margin of my paper, I drew a few things that came to mind. I twisted tree with leaves drawn in red pen, three dragons marching in a line. A box. I moved my drawings to the top margin, I sketched a man. Turning his back to me, long coat floating in the wind. My pen scratched at the paper, shading the thin figure. I added a dark halo behind him.

I stared at my drawing, it was darkly beautiful. To me anyway. In the mysterious kind of way the Doctor often acted. I gave it a small smile.

I resumed drawing. Just random things. A cube, a sphere… Shapes. I wasn't really thinking about it. I watched myself draw a little circle, etching a flat base into it. A couple of spires within the little sphere, a line of jagged mountains behind, a sun.

Something's missing.

I added a second circle it the sky, lower than the other, just above the mountains.

That's better.

I didn't know that place, I'd seen two moons, but never two suns.

Then why was it so familiar?

Suddenly the entire building shook, the chandelier swung widely, mere fractions of a second later I heard the explosion, the sound hit me like a club. I was dazed, but I was the first one on my feet and running outside.

Shake first, sound later, so about 500 meters away. Sound came from my right in the amphitheater, so from here… I stood for a moment at the door, getting my bearings.

I came from the science building.

I raced over to it, a few people were already there, staring at the fire that ravaged the side of the cream and red building. I stopped in their ranks; there was nothing we could do. The fire was monstrous, eating away at the brick and plaster like a pack of hyenas on a wounded gazelle. Windows burst under the heat, showering the pavement in white hot shards of glass, the delicate plaster moldings on the façade were crumbling to the floor. I head sirens, someone had called the fire department. That was a good idea. The sirens got closer, I was still mesmerized by the sinuous flames when I noticed a pair of firefighters drag a large hose and attempt to douse the beast. It fought back clinging to the side of the building. The firemen were relentless, stabbing the incendiary beast who hissed and sputtered at the liquid lance. Tired of being poked and jabbed with sharp needles, it roared, twisted on itself and a beam gaze way with a brittle snap. The entire front façade of the building wavered, slowly tilting itself downwards, following the tempting voice of gravity. Everyone moved back in time to avoid tons of concrete slamming itself to the ground. The beast roared and cackled at its victory, the fire fighters brought in another truck and another lance.

Two hours later the dragon had been slain, leaving the ruins of the science building for all to see. The remaining three floors had collapsed on themselves, leaving nothing but a large pile of blackened stone and twisted metal. In the distance I could hear the shrill cry of the ambulance that had just left, carrying Professor Raymond to the hospital. He'd been lucky, the original explosion had knocked him clear out a window. He was badly injured, but alive.

Paramedics were still digging through the carbonized rubble in attempt to find one more person. Ashton Vita, Pr. Raymond's pupil, the only other person trapped in the burning building. So far he was nowhere to be found. I walked away from the blackened skeleton of the sciences. Walked away from the carcass the hungry fire had left behind, walked away from-

Painful memories.

My eyes widened in surprise to the unbidden end of the thought. That was not how I was ending it! I'd been cut off in my own thought by myself! How does that even happen?! I sat myself on one of the many benches littered around the campus. When did this nonsense start? Was it when I met the Doctor? I thought about it for a moment.

No. No, no, no, it was Rancash, it started on Rancash. It started with that stupid little pendant.

I pulled out the crystal from under my shirt. It's carved surface catching the light. I frowned at the walnut sized disk. Why was I still wearing it? I had no obligation to.

Yes you do.

No not really.

I felt a twinge of frustration in the back of my mind. I looked back to the pendant, if it bothered me so much, why didn't I just take it off. Whatever it was doing to my mind didn't seem all that good.

In the end, when I walked away, I still had the pendant on. Like every other time I'd questioned its presence. It was a bit worrying that I could never decide myself to abandon the blasted thing on a park bench or something, but nothing major enough to worry about. Not really.

The rest of the day went by fast, with a certain unrest, but life went on. Though everyone was preoccupied with the fire.

I later learned that Vita and Raymond had been working on experiments on superconductivity at room temperature. Vita had tried using some alloy or other with a rare metal whose name sounded like anything but an element. Somehow the alloy was unstable and when they tested it, caught fire. Pr. Raymond had gotten to the fire extinguisher, but apparently the whole thing exploded before they could do anything else. That was the professor's testimony, after that he had no idea since he was unconscious outside the building.

But what I found most unsettling were the rumours spreading round, still now a week later, that some people had spotted a ghost roaming the campus in a white lab coat. They thought it was Vita, they had never found his body…

Why I found it unsettling? I'd seen him myself. I was crossing the inner courtyard towards the cafeteria when out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. White lab coat flowing a bit in the breeze, looking confused. Just for a fraction of a second. But when I turned my head around to look there was no one.

I wished the Doctor was here. It'd been a week since the fire, and people were still talking about the Ghosts of Ashton Vita. He'd be able to solve this, find a perfectly rational explanation to this paranormal conundrum. Oh how I missed him.

I moseyed on to my Literature class. Today was Thursday, the same day he dropped me off. Just over a week since three feet of snow in one night, just over a week since talking snow leopard, dragons and a flirty computer called Sintiq… Oh Doctor, my mad, impossible Doctor. Won't you come back? I pushed the door open to class B214. The amphitheater was basically empty, just a few other early students scattered across the seats. I took my usual seat, smack in the middle of the right wing. I wasn't sure what that said about my political inclinations but it was a good view on the board. Plus no one looks for troublemakers in the middle.

I took out my book, the dull cover with the school's dewy-decimal system stuck on the front. I had planned to catch on my reading and now I sat staring at the boring book. Yes I had pizza for lunch and coffee in the morning and I'd watched two hours of TV last night. But that didn't make my life any more interesting…

Students were starting to file in. Within minutes most of the 150 seats were full. The professor came in, good afternoon class, and it started. Shortly after the bottom door opened, I craned my neck to see who came in but didn't see anything.

Here's to another lesson in boredom. Why did I take that class anyway? It wasn't as if medical knowledge was going to help me anyway…

Wait medical? This wasn't med school, since when did I even consider taking med?

I shook my head and concentrated on Pr. James instead of on the odd little interjection of my mind. I probably hadn't slept enough last night…

Pr. James wrapped up his lecture quite nicely actually. I actually laughed at that particular pun… The other students left, I stayed behind, taking my time to pack up. I was trying to shove my binder into my bag when I heard steps on the wooden stairs coming up towards me. Expecting my professors, I turned around.

"Hello." He had a wide smile on his face.

"Doctor!" I gasped "You came back!" Despite my excitement I kept my voice down.

"Of course I did. I told you so didn't I?"

"It's been a week!"

"I don't have your schedule." I frowned, not understanding what he meant "I only knew you had a class at one o'clock on Thursday, you've no idea how much trouble I've tracking you down. Your secretary has very little imagination." He looked annoyed

"What happen?" I picked up my bag, motioning for us to talk-and-walk

"The psychic paper didn't work!"

"The what?"

"Psychic paper." He pulled out a little passport like thing "See?"

"A school's visitor card?"

"Nope blank piece of paper." I frowned, that was most certainly a visitor's card "Show's youwant I want you to see."

"Oh…" I nodded, seeing the usefulness of the thing.

"Of course, it requires the receiving party to come up with the image that'll be projected." He moved his hands about slightly as he explained "But if the receiver has no imagination, well… Nothing comes up…"

"So you showed that to Berta and nothing came up?" I chuckled "I can just imagined the dressing down you got."

"Tell me about it!" he had this offended look on his face that was most hilarious "I haven't been scolded like that since the Academy!"

I broke out into laughter. Secretary Berta was the epitome of harshness, nothing got past her and she knew how to make people feel like they were guilty of every wrong in the Universe! We crossed the courtyard, I had another two hours until my next class, I'd been planning on getting a snack watch something after doing a little work, but now… Now plans could be changed.

"Oh, hold on." I heard the Doctor say, I turned around to see him facing what was essentially nothing.

"What?"

"Thought I saw something…" he frowned "Something's not right… Has something happened?"

"Well yes."

"What?"

"Fire in the science lab, can show you, they haven't started construction yet."

"Fire?"

"Yeah, the day you dropped me off the science lab blew up. Only two people were caught in it. One was Pr. Raymond, he survived, bit scarred both physically and mentally, but alive. The other was Aston, the student; he…" I stopped

"He didn't make it?" the Doctor finished, a pained look on his face.

"No… They never found his body, everyone just assumed it'd been burnt into practically nothing then when all three stories of the building collapsed… There was nothing left, just burnt cinders and smoke." I stopped again, the Doctor wasn't looking at me, but that deep set sadness was back. "But ever since, people have been talking about Ashton's ghost. He pops up in seemingly random places, mostly were there are a lot of people though. Like the courtyard."

"Have you seen him?"

"Yes." I remembered the white-clad figure "Didn't see much of him, but apparently Josh-" The Doctor's confused look gave me the cue to elaborate "Guy in my French class. Apparently he saw him right up against his face, like ten centimeters away. That was enough to scare the poor guy for weeks."

"Hmm." The Doctor had that look on his face, he was thinking of something "Do you know what they were working on?"

"Super conductivity at room temperature." The charred remains of the building came into view, cordoned off by yellow tape and a large "Danger, Do Not Enter" sign. "Here we are." We walked up to the tape. I stopped, the Doctor didn't and ducked under it. I raised my eyebrows at this blatant disrespect of any kind of rule, but didn't say anything.

He pulled out his screwdriver "Oh this isn't good." He looked around "Way to much energy floating around. Someone's been messing with the Hertahn Barrier…"

"What the Hertahn Barrier?" I smile internally, I'd really missed this.

"Well… It's not a barrier really. More like a cell membrane, divides things up, but lets things through. He turned his head to face me "It divides different time streams; because time isn't a single line, it's like a river, meandering about, but there are currents, and the Hertahn Barrier keeps those currents separated. Now it's simple enough to cross the Barrier, but here it's wide open still. Something is stuck, neither one side or the other." He ducked under the tape again "And I think I know what." He sighed "There is a reason you didn't find Ashton's body. It's because he isn't dead."

Back in the TARDIS I sat on the seat as the Doctor searched for some part or other under the console. I was glad to be back in here, I like the ship, and I think it like me too. Although there was no way I could be sure about that.

"So what are you making?"

"Disturbance tracker." He said still from the other side of the console. "Should warn us about any change in the Hertahn Barrier and lead us to it."

"So we can track down Ashton?"

"Yep!" he walked around the console to me and tossed me the device. I caught the bundle of wires and stared at it.

"Is this really going to work?" I turned it over, to me it was just a coil of wires with a screen hastily glued to it

"Of course it is!" Seeing my skepticism he took the device back.

We exited the ship, which he'd parked next to the Art Building. Which wasn't the most inconspicuous place on campus but I didn't say anything, nodding a hello to a group of students that walked past.

"Anyway-" I asked "If we can track down Ashton, what are we going to do about him?"

"He's in another time stream, and based off the evidence you've given me, a faster one."

"Why'd you say that?"

"Because if he were in a slower one you'd be able to see him move, but in slow motion."

"Oh." I nodded "Still doesn't answer my question."

"We'll see when we get there." I sighed, cryptic as ever. Talks for hours but doesn't say a word.

We arrived at the courtyard, the Doctor flipped a little switch on the tracker. Nothing happened.

"Oh come on!" he scolded it as he hit the side of it.

Immediately the home-made device buzzed into life, a fervent beeping emanating from it. On the screen a little green dot appeared on the radar. To our left. We both looked, and saw nothing. At least I didn't, but the Doctor must've because he strode out towards the center of the courtyard. He looked pained, but his musings were interrupted by the tracker beeping furiously again.

"Aha!" he ran off back my way

"Where to?" I followed him as best I could

"Science building!" he called, as before long he was out of earshot

How he managed such speeds within such a short period of time was beyond me. I caught up with him eventually, as soon as I arrived he tossed me the tracker and ducked under the tape. I panted and put down my bags. He didn't say anything, just closed his eyes and straightened. I watched curious, I wanted to ask what he was doing but it seemed that concentration what imperative so I didn't. At first there was no change in his image; then he moved. I didn't see him move. He just suddenly wasn't in the same spot. My eyes widened as I watched him hail someone over, presumably Ashton. It was like looking through a zoetrope, all the images cut up. From what was seeing him was talking to someone, but they were out of earshot, plus I doubted I would hear much of anything comprehensible anyway.

I was completely baffled. I had no idea what he'd just done, but… I had no words to describe it, amazing didn't cut it, weird just didn't have the right connotation. But then I realized just how… wonderful that man was. Just when you think you know him, just when you think you've got him more or less figured out, wham! He goes and does something like this and upturns your neat little pyramid of facts. He was just impossible absolutely impossible.

I saw him walk towards me, choppy at first then more and more normally as he got closer. He looked tired.

"You OK?" I asked genuinely worried, he did look a bit pale

"Yeah, fine." he joined me where I was standing "Just give me a minute."

I frowned "With all that bravado you're going to end up hurting yourself." I took his hand and dragged him to a nearby bench "Now sit, rest and explain. In that order."

He smiled as I pushed him down onto the wooden park bench, I felt his gaze as I went to retrieve my backpack, he had the oddest look on his face as I sat next to him.

"Now, tell me, what happened?"

"I was right, Ashton was in another time stream, faster as predicted." I nodded "Of course he was confused and essentially scared because he couldn't get through to anyone, not to mention the slow motion bit. But otherwise he's surprisingly well off, I wouldn't've expected you humans to withstand that, but apparently so."

"Now what did _you_ do?" I looked puzzled "All of a sudden you just phased out, and went all choppy. Not unlike a badly loaded video." he chuckled "What happened?"

"I slowed down my perception of time." He said, I stayed impassive, but inside I was just confused "Ashton was going faster than everyone else, so I had to join him. Mind you I haven't done that in ages, not for that long anyway."

"So… All on your own, you just… Decided to slow down time." He shrugged, I sighed "Is there something you people can't do?"

"Well…" he trailed the sentence.

"Oh come on!" I laughed

We sat on the bench laughing, eventually the laughter faded to a chuckle. "So are you going to bring him back?" I asked

"I'm going to try." I stared at the charred rubble the fire had left behind "Should be able to do it my own… Just give me time to recuperate and we'll get right to it."

"Is there a way that doesn't involve you draining yourself until you can barely stand?"

"Yes but I don't think we have an antimatter generator and a trans-mat handy, do we?"

"No." I said pretending to think about it. "No we don't."

We sat there for a moment. I got the distinct feeling he wanted to tell me something but couldn't find a way to approach the topic. I looked at my watch, it was three thirty two

"Oh-" I bit off a curse "I'm late for class." I jumped up at grabbed my bag at my feet. "Gotta run, see you tomorrow." I waved behind me leaving the Time Lord sitting on the bench. I hadn't understood half of the last math lesson, I wasn't going to add to my workload by missing half of this one.

By the time I managed to get away from Dr. Emerry's long winded explanations it was half past five, and dark. Night had fallen and the sun was barely lighting up the horizon, the street lights were on, and I was tired. Math does that, leeches the energy from you until you can't process anything more complicated that a simple succession of events, namely food-shower-bed. Although just to be sure I swung by the little plaza were I'd last seen the Doctor. He'd gone. Understandably, I would've left too.

We'd catch up in the morning.

I walked out of my 8 o'clock French class into the sun, I looked around the little campus plaza and spotted a familiar figure beckoning me over. Smiling I trotted over.

"What's up?" I said cheerfully.

"Something not very good." His tone was heavy "I can't find Ashton."

"What?"

"He's gone." He had this worried look on his face. "Not a peep on the tracker, not even a disturbance in the Barrier."

I thought about it for a moment "You said yesterday that you hadn't expected our species to hold up, could it be that…" I didn't want to finish that particular sentence

"No, then the Barrier would've closed, it's still propped open."

Now I saw what was worrying him. He couldn't find Ashton, Ashton was still alive, but nowhere to be found.

"Now, how much time do you have." I assumed he was reffering to my classes

"The entire day. Wh-"

"Good, because we need to go ghost hunting."

After three hours of fruitless searching, we stopped, sat on a bench, or at least I did, and did some thinking, or at least the Doctor did. He was pacing back and forth, talking out loud, occasionally running his hand through his hair in frustration. He was exasperated, I was just exhausted.

Suddenly something beeped, he stopped and pulled the sonic out of his pocket.

"Oh." He said quietly looking at it intently.

"What?"

"The Barrier's closed." He looked up at me. "Ashton's completely on the other side, or…"

"Or he's dead." I finished the sentence

"Either way, there's no getting him back now…" he sounded pained, I could see why. "But how did he disappear like that?!" he started walking, I followed. "It's not as if he could shield himself, unless…" He stopped dead in his tracks

"Unless what?"

"Unless he had help!" And then we were running again.

Panting I leaned again one of the columns in the TARDIS, this was happening way too often.

"If someone shielded him then there would be a trace…" He explained "And if I could just find it…" He adjusted a few knobs around the monitor. "Then we should be able to-" he hit the side of the screen "find the culprit." He concentrating on his buttons "Aha!" A bit of fervent fiddling later and image popped up of the little post-it ringed screen. I looked over his shoulder at the low-res image.

The image was that over a woman, blonde with angular features, she was looking behind her to a 20-something year old young man, presumably Vita. There wasn't anything special about the picture itself but the Doctor zoomed in on the woman's shoulder. I hadn't noticed the badge, but now it came into view. I couldn't make out the lettering, but the image in the center was clear enough.

It was a sort of creature, bat-winged with a serpentine tail, a head that looked like that of goat and a lion's body. My introduction to mythology came to mind. It was a chimera. Not nice things chimeras.

Both the Doctor and I stared at the picture, neither of us knew who this person was, or what she wanted. But one thing was for sure.

She was not good news.


	5. Meanwhile

"Come on!" the Doctor tapped the side of the little screen in the medical bay.

As if responding to his encouragement, the week old medical data popped up on the screen. It showed him the same vitals as it had the first time. Fiddling with a few buttons he changed the scan to a routine one, limiting the depth. Human, said the little screen, then proceeding to list of other particularities, such as her dextrocardia, her heart neatly outlined in red on the picture. Nothing that could possibly make the translator short out.

"Ok, now that works." Another press of a button, the depth was changed again.

The computer's fan whirred as it processed the stored data according to the new parameters.

The little screen said nothing, the picture was all in grey. It was completely blank. That explained the translator… The Doctor frowned at the blank space where a flood of information had been before he changed the scan depth. This was most peculiar. Curious he set the scan to maximum.

The machine hummed and whirred, none of it sounded very good. It coughed, then the screen went blank. The Time Lord raised him eyebrows in confusion, then proceeded to refresh the scan. The computer started it's sickly symphony anew. Before it shorted again, he hit the side of the screen. Static came on, and, most unwillingly, the little screen gave in. ERROR, it flashed in big bold letters.

The Doctor sat on his haunches, crossing his arms on his chest. Most peculiar. Most peculiar indeed. He stared at the error screen, the bright spots on the ceiling reflecting on the polished surface. In the end he frowned at the question rich lack of answers. The translator didn't work, it always worked for every single companion before Alisha, so why her? What was so special about her? Then there was the question as to how she got in in the first place. She'd said the door was open, it should've locked itself after he closed it… The TARDIS let her in. But why?

Why? Why? Why? That was always the question when Alisha was concerned… Who was she?


	6. El Dorado is a Lie

I stood behind him as he fiddled the controls, he'd narrowed the search for the chimera-patched woman down to a handful of possible planets. Twenty-five to be exact…

It was nice to be travelling with him again, we'd just taken off. No questions, no uncertainties, just as it was. At the present the Doctor was a man on a mission, he was going to find Ms. Chimera no matter what. Or, if I knew him well enough from our short time together, until he got distracted.

He whirled off to another end of the console, still trying to keep a button pressed where he had been a moment ago. I put my finger down on the button, brushing against his finger to let him know I'd got it. He muttered a thank you and continued to haphazardly pilot the ship. The ship jolted a bit, it was normal really, I noticed him bounce to one end of the console to flip a minuscule switch. Another jolt, this time I had to cling to the console to prevent myself being flung off into the wall.

I was having a hard time staying more or less upright, so I let go off the button. Nothing happened, relieved, I grabbed the edge of the console with both hands.

Suddenly the entire room tilted with a booming crash. I felt myself collide with the railing, my efforts to not have that exact thing happen utterly futile. Over the deafening roar of the engines I could hear the Doctor ordering his ship around verbally. Or comforting her. Either way it didn't have much effect.

Thankfully, he managed to right us just in time to land more or less decently with a minimum of the symptoms of a crash landing. The harsh shake as we hit the ground made my heads hit the railing, again. I groaned as I felt the bruise form.

"Doctor…" I whined "What happened?" I rubbed the back of my head, wincing as I touched my newest injury.

He stared at me for a moment. "Something ran us into us. Knocked us clear out of the Vortex."

"That can happen?"

"Apparently so." He sounded as bemused as I was

A small moment of silence took hold, chock full of awkwardness.

"Yes, I'm still here." I answered the question posed by the silent elephant in the enormous vaulted room.

"Sorry." He said with the most sheepish expression I'd seen on a grown man.

I shook my head at the impossible man standing in front of me. That proved to be a mistake as pain flared up again. "So where are we?" I tried to ignore the throbbing in my skull. It wasn't working.

"Good question" he bounded towards the doors, snapping up his coat on the way. I slowly got up and followed. My eyesight covered itself with bright purple and green dots as I got up.

That couldn't be good. I waited for them to go away, which they did promptly, before continuing my little exodus.

He opened the doors and the humid hot tropical air hit me like a hammer. Like I hadn't been battered enough today. It rammed itself into my lungs, it was so thick it felt like I was inhaling syrup.

It had the sweet quality to it, a kind of tang in the air like very ripe fruit, the kind of smell that tell you that if you don't eat that banana today you will never be able to.

Unfazed by the extreme heat the Doctor stepped out onto the moist earth.

"Well it's definitely Earth." He stated.

"How do you know?" I panted, attempting to fan myself. Without much success.

"Blue sky, green trees, concentration of the air,…" he enumerated with bravado. "And the fact I saw a parrot fly by."

"Are parrots special?"

"As a matter of fact they are!" he smiled "Indigenous to this planet, you'll never find a parrot anywhere else."

"Really?" I was a bit skeptical

"Oh yes."

I nodded, we pushed through a bit of undergrowth few a few dozen meters. Then we understood why we'd almost crashed.

Because something else had.

Before us lay a ship, large and square. Or at least I assumed it was square seeing that I only saw a single side of it. The rest was buried deep into the hillside. A long scar stretched hundreds of meters behind it and there were no few fires in and around it, most of them had died out a little, the ones closer to the ship being mostly torch sized but some nearer the original impact were on their way to becoming sizable bonfires.

"I take it that's what knocked us out?" I asked, mostly rethorically.

"Yep." He popped the 'p'. He scanned the area immediately in front of him and cautiously started walking towards the ship.

"Wait a minute, we're not going in there are we?" I asked, slightly worried. I mean the ship had crashed, meaning there was a very good reason. And I wasn't particularly looking forward to seeing whatever carnage had been caused by the crash itself.

"Why not?" He asked, looking back.

"Don't we have a Chimera to find?"

"Oh what's a little distraction going to do?" he said "It's good to refresh the mind."

He started walking away again. I sighed, reminding myself how many times I had said those exact words before procrastinating for two days. I followed his footsteps in the charred earth. He was being careful where he stepped, I guessed there was a reason for that. Taking unnecessary risks just wasn't on today's list.

The ground was increasingly cracked as we neared the ship, the footsteps I was concentrating very hard on following were getting more and more unclear in the direction they were going as they avoided fires and other unpleasant things to walk into. Finally they steadied into a walking pace whose strides were too large for me to follow comfortably. I looked up. I was less than ten meters from the ship, at which point I took the general direction and hoped I didn't step on whatever the Doctor seemed so keen to avoid. I suspected landmines. It was an unreasonable suspicion, but in my mind it somehow held.

"Remind me why we're investigating?" I asked, still not especially wanting to be here, I had a bad feeling about this.

"Because this is 1200 AD Peru and spaceships aren't exactly a thing on your planet right now." He paid very close attention to a cargo door. He tapped it, the bulkhead sounded hollow "And because I've got a bad feeling about this."

"And you think that means you have to go in?"

"Of course!" I looked at me indignantly "If I hadn't done half the insanely dangerous things that I did do precisely because I had a bad feeling about it this planet would be either a slave world, a lump of molten rock or a pile of space dust." He resumed his examination, I stopped paying attention when he decided a gustatory exam was in order.

I didn't like it. Not one bit, there was just something about that ship that screamed to me to turn tail and run as far as I could. And it wasn't the fact that it was buried in age old South American soil.

The Doctor was doing god-knows-what to a poor innocent access panel, buzzing it furiously while it spewed sparks all over the place. I looked around. Apart from the crash site, it was a pristine forest, beyond the line of downed trees were perfectly healthy ones, luscious and green. The sky was a pure blue, bluer than I'd ever see it in my city-bound life. The air was clean, I took a deep breath, it was hot but at least here there was a breeze. The crash corridor having cleared the trees.

I heard a loud clang and the whirr of a motor. I turned around to see the door to ship swinging open on motorized hinges. Probably the cargo bay door judging by the speed, or lack of.

"In we go." The Doctor stated excitedly, hopping onto the edge of the door. Reluctantly I joined him, peered into the inside of the ship, and immediately back away. It was deep in there. And dark. I didn't want to go.

"I don't like it." My vertigo wasn't helping the ill-fated ship's selling points.

"Hmm." he judged the distance. I had a feeling I knew what he meant to do

"We're not jumping are we?" The idea sounded horrendously dangerous and something of a death trap.

"Then how do you suppose we get down?"

"I don't know, just…" I cringed away from the precipice "Not… Jumping."

"Why not?"

"Heights." I looked at him

"Oh…" he nodded slowly. I was surprised he hadn't noticed I didn't spend much time on the edges of things taller than me. "I don't think it's that high though. Not to be insensitive, but we haven't much of a choice."

I moaned. I knew we didn't have a choice. "You go first then."

"Alright." He gaged the distance again, he reminded me a bit of a cat about to leap onto a desk, his head bobbing up and down.

Then he was off the edge, I heard him land smoothly on what sounded like a metal deck.

"It's alright. Only ten feet till the gravity kicks in." He called up to me.

"Ten feet! That's twice my height Doctor!" the number didn't do much to improve my comfort.

"Alisha come on. There is no other way in." he sounded a little frustrated.

I took a deep breath, I peered into the great chasm again, trying to steel myself against the great expanse of nothing to fall through. I didn't succeed. I backed away again.

"Alisha!" The Doctor called from below "Come on, you can do it."

"I can't." my voice broke a little. The fear was gaining on me.

"Yes you can." He encouraged

I chanced another glance, the darkness below laughing maniacally at my phobia, the shadows pointing and snickering in silence.

Dark water, too deep to see. The sun of my back. A friend below, egging me on.

I couldn't do it.

A leap, a splash, the cool water on my face.

I took a deep breath, held it, closed my eyes, and stepped off. I felt every second of the fall. I chanced to flicker my eyes open for a second. I landed in a panic.

"There you go! Good girl!" the Doctor rushed me into a bear hug and held me at arm's length "See! You could do it!"

"Yeah…" my heart was beating at two hundred miles per hour "Doctor? Please promise me, we will never-" I stared him right into his big brown eyes. "Ever-" his left eyebrow raise itself a bit "Ever-" his the corners of his lips turned upwards into a small smile "Do that again." I was being very serious, he was laughing on the inside. I wasn't amused.

"I promise." He indulged in a small chuckle "Now let's get some light in here." He whirled away from me and promptly found another access panel. He seemed to have a gift for finding them. I took a moment to slip the translator out of my pocket and place it behind my ear, just in case we came across someone who needed to communicate. He pulled a wire out, did a bit of connecting I couldn't describe for my life and the great big projector on the ceiling came on with a loud clunk.

Almost immediately we both froze and stared at the odd sight surrounding us. The Doctor jumped back from the wall he'd been standing near. Mushrooms. Great huge cone-shaped fungi covering the walls, mycelia hanging from everywhere. The floor was a dark and dusty blue metal, the wall would've been the same. Except they were now entirely painted with the browns and ochres of the mushrooms.

That wasn't in the least bit creepy then, this wasn't as scary for me than earlier, but it only reinforced the awful presentiment I had about this place.

"Don't touch them." The Doctor said grimly

"What?"

"They're Sirilen Cordyceps. You have a subtype of them on your planet." He moved over to me and pulled me away from the wall. "I think you call them Zombie Mushrooms."

"The ones that make ants kill themselves and then grow out of their head?"

"That's the one, just bigger." He stared the unmoving fungi down "And more ambitious."

"What do you mean ambitious?" I asked.

I got my answer. A loud crash echoed in the cargo bay as the door to a storage locker was kicked off its hinges. I stared in horror at the thing that came out.

It used to be human, or at least humanoid. That much was clear, but beyond that it was unrecognizable. Mycelia were draped across its body, some dragging on the floor, eyes vacant and glassy, its forehead was split, blood still gushed out every time it took a wobbly step towards us. The thin cone wobbling but securely anchored in its victims skull. I felt my breath get short. It got the hang of walking, the sound of its steps on the hard metal floor were steadier and more rhythmic. I backed up, I couldn't look away from it. It was awful and made me sick but my eyes were glued to the ghastly travesty of life limping towards me. I felt the Doctor's hands on my shoulder. I kept staring as he pulled me backwards.

The thing straightened a little at our movement, and resumed its forward motion, albeit what seemed to be a little faster.

My eyes were still riveted on it when a door cut my view, sliding into place, breaking the trance. I looked around, there were less mushrooms here, just a few small cones of the walls of the corridor. What didn't help was the red lighting. I couldn't really make out the colors of things, everything was bathed in red. I had a feeling not seeing color was a good thing at this point.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor's voice

"I-No." I went for honesty, I was terrified.

"Good." He whispered. "Don't let them touch you." He said sternly

"Why?" I guessed the reason but I need confirmation, and hearing his voice helped

"That's how they spread." He gave me a quick glance before returning to his observation of our surroundings. "They get their spores in your system then go straight for the brain. You're dead within minutes."

I shivered, that was fast, efficient and utterly deadly. Why were we here? I didn't want to be here! I wanted to go home. Home was nice, yeah, home in front of the TV with some micro-wave pasta. Safe. Completely safe, no death mushrooms, or crashing spaceships.

"That doesn't sound good."

"It really isn't. We should make sure none of them gets out. Or it's good bye Earth."

"We should find a way the bridge yeah?" I asked, if we needed to seal the ship that's where I guessed things would be.

"Yes, but where is it?" he said looking around for some kind of clue in the red-bathed corridor.

We walked down the corridor. Here the concentration of mushrooms was even less, but they were still there against the walls, just sitting there, waiting. I stuck close to the Doctor, I resisted the temptation to hold his hand. In the end I gave up trying to fight it. I was just too scared, the enemy was too close, way too close. He gave me a caring look and squeezed my hand in his. It'll be alright, his eyes said. I hope so, said mine.

"Stop!" a voice bellowed from a corridor, before we could react a thin raven haired man about my age stepped in front of us, face half hidden behind his gun. I side-stepped behind the Doctor, coward that I was.

"We're unarmed." The Doctor said, raising his hands, I did the same.

He stared us down. "Come." He gestured with the barrel of his blaster, he kept it trained on us, but at least we were moving.

He led us around the corridors, alternating between watching us and where he was going. The size and number of mushrooms decreased as we went. And judging by the pained look on his face so did the Doctor's comfort. I nicknamed our guide Shy-Guy, partly because he was hiding behind his gun, partly because the small ensign on his collar reminded me of the little characters from Mario. And because the little buggers were cute and helped me feel a little less terrified.

Shy-Guy finally brought us to a door, very large, he swiped his cuff against a reader it beeped and a siren went off. The door was opening.

"Get in." he kept an eye on the corridor as we ducked under the still opening door, he quickly dived under the door and closed it. That action happened much faster and with a lot of noise. Once the tremendous racket caused by the slamming door finished echoing around the room, I permitted myself to take my hands off my ears. There were four people in the room: myself, the Doctor, Shy-Guy and another person, whose floppy brown hat just begged me to call him Goomba. Not as cute as Mario characters go, but I'll take what I've got.

"I'm Lieutenant Su, and this is Ensign Millard." Goomba got up. "I have one question for you: How and Why are you on this ship? And Who are you?"

"That's three questions." The Doctor responded, he didn't sound, or look, to well

"Just answer them." Su was more forceful

"Alright , alright,…" the Doctor rubbed his forehead before continuing "I'm the Doctor and this is Alisha. W-We're here because you knocked us out of space when you crashed." I was puzzled as to why he didn't mention the Vortex, which was what happened. Unless it would cause some controversy, yeah that was probably it. People just didn't travel in time. "We came in through the c-cargo bay, triggered the seal v-via the p-panel on the outside." He stopped to catch his breath. He was stuttering. That was odd, what was wrong with him? My anxiety rose. He wasn't alright, he wasn't alright at all. That was not good. That was very, very not good.

Su nodded and went back to Millard, they exchanged a few words. Then he came back to us "Is your craft still functional?"

"Yes." The Doctor said quickly

"The rest of the crew is dead. We need passage off planet, if-"

"I-I'll take you." He blurted, his breathing short "We just need to s-seal the ship off first."

"Why?"

"Because we c-cannot let any of these mushrooms reach th-the outside. If they do they'll w-wipe out an entire civilization." He leaned on a post that held a fairly large pipe aloft.

"We can't." Su was clearly very eager to just leave this ship and it's terror behind. Understandably.

"We have to." The Doctor put more power behind his words, I edged towards him "And I know this is a Type 2 C-Conform Freighter and it has a remote seal that c-can be activated. All we need to do is activate it."

"The bridge is too far." Milard interjected from the back

"I won't leave until this ship is s-sealed." That gave Su something to think about. He went to converse with Shy-Guy again.

I, on the other hand, was worried about the Doctor.

"Are you alright?" I asked, getting closer.

"No." he shook his head, rubbing his temple "M-magnetic particle ac-accelerator ." he pointed to the large torus-shaped machine "M-messing with my head. Can't… f-focus."

"Can't you shield or something? Anything we can do?" I asked, if he couldn't function right… we were stuck.

"No, I have to…G-get away from it." he let out a moan in pain. There was nothing I could do. Except get this done as quick as possible. The two Mario baddies were still talking it over. Feeling a rush of confidence, probably fight-or-flight finally deciding on fight, I strode towards them.

"Excuse me?" they turned around, they looked surprised to see me there "I think it is within both our interests to get this done as quickly as possible. So why are we wasting time? Let's get to the bridge, seal the ship and get out of here."

"But…" Millard tried to say something. Su hushed him

"How do we know we can trust you?" Goomba's eyes narrowed

I rolled my eyes "Is it really that important? You're the one that asked for passage! My friend is literally dying over there, and if he goes then we're all dead, so I suggest we get a move on."

"What's wrong with him?" Millard asked, suspicious and eyeing me nastily.

"That thing." I pointed to the particle accelerator. I tried not to heed both their glares.

"How?" Su was incredulous

"I don't know!" I spat "And you're still wasting time!"

Both their shoulder's drooped a little when they realized I had a point. I hadn't believed myself capable of convincing the two, but apparently fear was a powerful motivator. I was actually rather impressed with my own performance. Until I noticed the cold spot near my neck.

The pendant: it wasn't me. It was that blasted thing again. No matter. It'd helped for once.

"Fine." Su said, if looks could kill I'd be dead twelve times over. "We'll go. But it's not our fault if either of you dies."

"Neither of us is going to die." I said with more confidence than I actually felt. "Now we get out. Good?" I held his gaze

"Good." Su responded, holding my gaze with what might as well have been a harpoon.

"Brilliant." I fought myself to not break the eye contact.

To my great relief Su went to open the door, and I was free to get the Doctor. He was starting to worry me. He didn't even see me coming, and almost hit the ceiling when I tapped his shoulder.

"We're going out now. We're going to seal the ship."

He stared at me for a moment as if he didn't understand, then nodded. He leaned on my shoulder a bit as he took the first few steps towards the door, then he pushed away. He was still a bit shaky on his feet, but he bravely made it to the door, panting. I felt for him, my poor Doctor.

"We can't open the door fully, I won't risk it." Su said, his hand on the controls.

"Once outside, we shift and stick together" Millard added "if you go off on your own and get caught it's your fault and your fault alone."

"We won't wander off." I said

"Tell that to your friend, I don't think he understood." Millard gave the Doctor a disgusted glare.

I was appalled, but I didn't say anything… It was true that at the moment the Doctor wasn't showing his usual brilliance, but it was clear that something was wrong. They'd asked, but not in the kind of way where they were offering help, more like they expected some kind of mental illness to be the answer I gave them.

Is this what the future us were like? Condescending, and elitist… Did nothing change?

The door beeped loudly as Millard opened it, I gave the Doctor a shove, he seemed to understand where he was meant to go. I followed him closely as he ducked under the arch, falling to all fours as he lost his balance. The two Mario-boys slipped under the opening door on either side of me and the Doctor, whom I was half-helping back on his feet.

I could somewhat understand why he kept pushing me away when I tried to help. It was more ego than anything, but also a reassurance, for his own benefit rather than mine. He was fine, he had to be at all times. I'd seen him lock up emotions before but never physical pain. Apparently he bottled everything up. That couldn't be healthy.

Eventually we were getting a move on, Shy-Guy led the way, checking all avenues behind his gun. Even though we were moving away from the accelerator and hence the magnetic field, the Doctor wasn't showing any signs of getting better.

I got restless as we turned the fifth left since we started, the Doctor was walking fine but when I asked him if he was okay it took him a while to respond with a nod. Another right, that makes six rights. Where were we going? Was the bridge that far? The red lighting wasn't doing much to reassure me. I was rather sure that the dark smudge of uncertain color on the wall we'd just passed was blood.

No words. Still no words.

My poor Doctor what are you without your words? I travelled with him for a few weeks now, and over that time I've learned that he chooses his words very carefully. He can talk and talk and never say anything or he can utter a handful of syllables and say everything. But without them, without speech… He was powerless.

I looked forward at our two guides, Shy-Guy was still holding his gun aloft in front of his face, and Goomba had his hand on the holster dangling from his belt. Those two couldn't see a message if it hit them in the face. Their power resided in the little miracles of technology that sat snugly at their hip. The little or large noisy things with reticles that gave them power over life and death, that let them hide their fear behind someone else's. Cowards.

Suddenly Shy-Guy stopped and motioned to Goomba, who in turn told us to be quiet and stay put. I stepped forward, peeking around the edge. A few of the converted crew were standing half-attached to the rest of the fungi embedded in the wall. Everything was still, the mycelia dangling from the ceiling and their bowed head barely trembled with the low vibration of the ship powering the red lights. Little droplets of blood fell into the growing puddles at their feet, the steady drip echoing lightly in the empty corridor.

"I'll cover." Shy-Guy whispered "You cross, I'll join you, and be quiet."

Goomba looked to me I nodded, saying I'd heard the plan. We crossed the corridor with no major issues, one of the converts had lazily turned his glassy bloodshot eyes towards us but notice had barely been taken. I was glad to see the Doctor had regained most of his coordination. He was getting better. Shy-Guy later joined us and resumed the lead.

We took a grand total of ten steps as a team again when they gave chase.

The sound of ripping fungal tissue made me cringe, the possessed crewmembers made me run. As did the others.

It seemed like fight or flight was effective on everyone, including Time Lords with magnetism sickness. Or however you called that.

"This way!" Su called over his shoulder as he ducked into a corridor.

I took the hard left, feeling my pulse beating noisily in my temples. A door was open, I rushed through it. A clatter of footsteps followed me as I tried to stop before hitting the control panel in front of me.

I failed miserably and received a hard hit in the gut for my efforts. Coughing I turned around, everyone was here and the door was closed. The fungi-converts were banging on it, making quite a racket. I took a quick look around, the front deck window showed only dirt. I looked around for the Doctor and felt relieved when I saw him panting, leaning against a battered console.

"That should hold them." Millard considered the door "Now you wanted to seal the ship, do it."

"Huh?" I was puzzled, I didn't know how this thing worked.

"Seal the ship, girl, go on." Millard urged "That way we can get hell out of here!"

"I can't." I said still a bit panicked "You'll have to ask-" I was gesturing at the Doctor as I said this.

"Ask him?" Millard interrupted "What could he possibly know? The idiot's got brain damage or something!"

"What?" The fear turned to anger. How dare they? How dare they insult my Doctor like that?

"How dare you?" I repeated my thoughts "What's he done to you for you to insult him like that?" both Mario-boys were taken a bit aback at my sudden outburst of anger. I wasn't going to stop there, "I'll have you know that to him that particle accelerator was the equivalent of a nuclear reactor leaking radiation! Of course his mind's going to be a bit scrambled!" I wasn't sure about the facts, they were probably complete lies, but that wasn't my point. "You can't just-"

A touch on my forearm "A-alisha." Came the hoarse whisper, his eyes were pleasing me to stop. I did.

"Doctor." I rushed over to him, he didn't push me away this time instead he went in for the hug. I guess he could tell I was the one who needed comfort at this point.

"Just… B-be nice." He smiled weakly before letting go and directing himself towards a monitor. He stared at it for a while before starting to press buttons. Not with his usual speed and flourish, but at least he was pressing buttons. That was good wasn't it?

"See I told you." I said under my breath to the other two.

"You told us nothing, girl." It was Su's voice, it was harsh. I turned around. "You should know your place." I barely saw it coming, all of a sudden I was sent reeling onto a console, my cheek burning.

"The hell do you do that for?" I asked indignantly, I refused to soothe the pain from the backhand I'd just received.

"You think you can order us around like that, just because you have a way out?" Su's eyes were backlight with rage "You are but a girl! You may have your way with your simple friend," he gestured towards the Doctor "but not with me! Not with a real man!" Great, a sexist. Just perfect; and we'd granted passage to these bastards? On the TARDIS?

"L-Lieutenant." Came the stuttered call from the center of the room "If-If you would please leave m-my colleague alone." Colleague? Oh right. The only word that'll effectively not be misconstrued as a euphemism for something else. Even "friend" had that connotation.

"Back off this isn't your fight." He spat.

"Sh-she is in my care. I-I believe it is." The Doctor was resolute.

"In your care?" Su guffawed "What care? You let this mere woman run wild! She's got ideas! Thinks she can boss me around, I wonder what she does with your sorry ass!"

"I-I don't know about y-your world." the Doctor was starting to turn his back on Su "But on mine a woman c-can be what she likes." He glanced at me. Thank you Doctor. I would've defended myself but it's hard to stand up when you're tied to the floor.

"Your world?" Millard repeated, brow furrowed "What do you mean your world?" from his tone, the feminist debate had been pushed aside. As it always is…

"Your planet?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow as he continued working. He was getting better faster, his keystrokes were much smoother.

"So you're not from Earth?" Millard said and they both in some way, shape or form put their hands near their guns.

"No." the single syllable was loud and clear. Almost defiant. No, not almost. It was defiant, defiant and proud.

"Step away from the controls." Shy-Guy pulled out his gun, again.

The Doctor raised his arms "You. With him." Millard barked at me. I tiptoed over to the center of the room.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, a felt the Doctor's agreement in his nod in my peripheral vision.

"We can't trust you." Goomba said giving us a nasty glare.

"You trusted us earlier, enough to ask for passage on our ship." I answered

"Well we didn't know you were alien then did we?" Su spat the words out

"And that changes what?" I wasn't going to argue and tell him I was human and only the Doctor wasn't. That was not the point of this fight.

"Everything you treacherous bitch!" Su spat, literally. Millard was glowering at us from behind his gun. "You have no soul! For all we know you could be trying to kill us, fool us by looking human. How do we know it wasn't you who brought the 'shrooms on board!" I gave him a puzzled look, where had that come from. All this hate, why? "It was you wasn't it, you pitiful offworlder!"

"Oh please…" The Doctor suddenly spoke up, a pained expression on his face. I was clear he'd had just about enough of this, and frankly so did I. "Sexist and xenophobic? What century are you from? The 15th?" He wasn't stuttering anymore, I smiled. He was back in business.

"Shut up!" Millard fired a shot that connected with a console behind us

"The ship's sealed if you'd like to know." The Doctor straightened to his full height "We can go."

"Not we." Su made towards a door opposite the room. "Us."

"My ship won't let you in. She really wouldn't like you."

"Oh yeah? We'll see what 'she' will do." He spat out the feminine like it was dirt on his tongue. Then the door opened and they left, leaving us behind.

"So that's us then?" I said almost as soon as they'd left, pained.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor's speech was perfectly fine now. No weakness, nothing.

"The human race. Still as obstinately close-minded as ever." I mused "Even worse than in my time."

"Alisha listen." He made me look into his eyes "Those two are the products of a virtual cesspool of your species: the Haerdan system. That corner of space is but a fraction of humanity, but they are the worst that can be." I gave those words a cynical smile "But it's a single system in a hundred thousand, a billion billion humans. All spread out across the stars. Mingling, talking, learning, being absolutely brilliant." he smiled, eyes twinkling, he really did like us didn't he? "People that talk like they do are loud, and they only get worse with time. But that is not who you are, neither is it who you will be." He smiled, I smiled back.

"Now we've got to get out of this ship before it seals itself." He spun around. Then tried the door the Mario-boys had gone through, it was locked.

"We're going to have to chance it with the mushrooms aren't we?"

"I'm afraid so." He considered the other door.

We both stood by it. The Doctor asked if I was ready, I nodded. The door opened fully.

There was nothing on the other side. No mushrooms converts, I sighed in relief.

"Come!" he tapped my arm "And quietly."

I tiptoed behind him, struggling not to make any noise against the metal deck plating. He peered round every corner, like Shy-Guy had but without hiding behind a gun, in that respect he was braver.

I was glad he was back.

Eventually we made it back to the cargo bay. We'd only encountered one batch of fungi-converts, and they hadn't even taken any notice of us. That just went to show who the real monsters were.

"So we're going to have to get back up there now?"

"Yep." The Doctor was staring up at the sliver of sunlight above us. "We can't climb it, but…" he looked around the door for something. "There!" he carefully pushed a few strands of dangling mycelia away from a control panel. "We can open it." A light flashed, bathing the room in yellow light every five seconds, a loud beeping filled the cargo bay.

The door was slow. Very slow. Feeling something behind me, I turned around.

"Doctor!" I screamed as I scrambled away from the convert's reach. The effort cost him a spurt of blood. He gave chase, I dodged "Doctor!" I called again, the panic welling up again in my chest.

"I'm sorry Alisha, I can't let this lever go!" His voice sounded torn.

"Anything you can do from there?" I called, dodging another grab, my heart picking up its pace in my chest. I tried to not to look at the eyes, but the crystalline red orbs just followed me around, almost making eye contact inevitable.

"No. Don't let it touch you!" he was anxious. So was I.

No kidding.

I ducked under a swipe at my head, panting. All this dodging was really not for unfit little me. And the convert was getting frustrated it seemed, blood was now bubbling up from his forehead at a regular rate. It made me want to hurl but I was too busy trying not to get killed to return my lunch to the earth. I kept dodging. I tried to run, but the collective fungal intelligence seemed bent on tripping me up. Why were mushrooms so stringy? The close-quarters were not reassuring me. Anywhere but here, please. I needed to get out. Outside. I needed out. But the convert was not letting up and neither was the steady beep from the door. Every time he grabbed at me a shower of blood erupted from the fault line in his skull. Not all of it missed me.

I felt the breeze behind me, the door was almost fully open. I skipped backwards a few steps and chanced a glance, it was three quarters open. Finally, relief. I looked back, it was two centimeters away. I squeaked and my legs dropped me to the floor. The mycelia and blood-covered crewmember stood towering over me, getting closer on lurching step at a time, blood spurting out, showering me in little red droplets. I scooted back. My eyes found themselves riveted to the converts, I sat there backing up, staring into the two red spheres of glassy cornea.

"The door's open!" I heard from behind me.

I needed to get away.

Training. Drop, Roll, and Kick. Again. Repeat. Again.

The convert was on the floor, and I was scurrying away. I'd worry about how later.

The gravity didn't work on the ramp, I stumbled in my race outside. Fine, crawling it was. I just wanted out. I dropped and grabbed the wide metal mesh scurrying up. The metal cut painfully into my hands but I didn't care, I could hear the convert stumbling below me. Out. I needed out. Here wasn't safe.

"To the side." The Doctor called, he was standing on the ledge we'd jumped from

Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, don't look down… I scaled the ramp as fast as I could. Regulating my breathing. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, don't look down… Left, right, left, right, left, right, One square at a time. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down…

He pulled me forwards onto firm ground. I stood there clinging to his shoulders, on the verge of tears.

"You're safe now." He held me tight. I squeezed my eyes shut, burying my face in his coat. Safe. We were safe. Everything was fine. Absolutely alright. Nothing to hurt us. Nothing, nothing.

My breathing steadied, my heart started to slow. I relaxed my grip on the Time Lord's shoulders.

"Alright?" he asked, his brown eyes full of worry

"Yeah." I breathed, trying to smile. "Can we not be here?"

"Yes." He agreed "A minute though."

He pressed a button inside the panel he'd fiddled with when we first got in. The door shut. With speed, which was mildly infuriating.

"Remote quarantine seal." He said staring at the closed ship. "Time will bury it."

Good. Let those damn fungi die in the dark, alone and forgotten. "Back to the TARDIS?" I asked, more of a fervent request than just a question.

"Yeah." He nodded heartily, massaging his temple.

"Won't people notice it?" I asked as we walked back, I was a bit worried, I mean this thing was dangerous!

"Oh yes. But I think I have an idea of how this'll go down in your history." He was being cryptic.

"How?" I really didn't feel like guessing games.

"South America, impenetrable fortress lost to time?" he looked at me eagerly. I stared back, unblinking asking for him to finish it. "Come on!" he wasn't giving up easy

I set my little gears in motion, looking through various pieces of information to try and find a match. Eventually I did. "El Dorado." I said, awaiting the evaluation of my answer

"That's it." he beamed "Just about the right place too." He looked around.

"How do you know?" I frowned

"Oh… No reason." He turned away. Dammit Doctor, why so cryptic? I sighed and gave up trying to press him on that particular story. I knew he wasn't going to say anything.

Not surprisingly Goomba and Shy-Guy we hammering at the door, a few scorch marks suggested they'd tried blasted their way in. Evidently they'd been foiled.

"Oh hello, fancy seeing you here!" The Doctor called jovially as we walked up. "You're not getting in there like that you know, believe me many people have tried, all of them more powerful than you."

The Mario-boys just glared at him like he'd just insulted their sisters. Or their mothers. Although if their sexism was just as strong in their family, probably brother and father…

"Well, clear off." He gave them a light push away from the door. "I'm not letting you in." he stared them down."

"But you gave us passage." Shy-Guy protested

"Then you left us to die in that ship. Lucky for you I'm not a brain-damaged idiot." I internally chuckled as the Doctor threw Millard's words back at him.

He stayed silent. "You know what?" the Doctor mused as he slid the key into the lock. "I probably shouldn't leave you here should I? You're going to make a mess of history if I do…" I bolt slid back.

"No yeah, I'll take you back." He stared them in the eyes. "But if I hear a single word out of you two whether to me or to Alisha, you are going to spend the rest of your lives regretting it." his words were harsher. And in my mind rightfully so.

"You can't do that!" Goomba protested

"You think I can't?" The door opened with a squeak.

Su stayed silent. The doors were open, I hopped inside. Safe, 100% safe. Finally. The warm glow from the column was very soothing, as was the ambient hum.

"We come on. I'm not going to wait all day." The Doctor urged them inside. "Now you stand right here and don't move. I don't want you messing about in my ship." No nods from the Mario-boys but they'd gotten the message. I went to sit on the seat as I usually do, but the Doctor called me over.

"Hold that for me will you?" he pointed to a lever.

The ride was no bumpier than usual. Neither was it much better.

"There." The Shy-Guy and Goomba were evidently a bit shaken "Now out." The Doctor opened the door "Go on!" they stepped out and just stood there on the pavement. He didn't bother with a farewell, he simply slammed the doors behind them and the TARDIS took off again. He hadn't even reached the console when she started taking off. Looks like she agreed in our opinion on the two "offficers".

"Now that we're rid of them." He said, not looking at me. "Would you care to explain," he set a course "how you knew that the particle accelerator was comparable to a nuclear reactor?" he stared me straight in the eyes.

"I didn't." I was uncomfortable. Again. Eye contact just wasn't my forte. "Lucky guess." I offered

He nodded skeptically "And how you took down that convert in the cargo bay."

"I don't know!" My stress levels were rising. "I just… did it."

'Don't let him see', the words echoed in my mind for the nth time.

"So you just 'did' a perfect Direan takedown?" He moved closer to me "That's not from your planet Alisha!" he raised his voice, I felt my chest squeeze.

"Doctor, please…" I squeaked "I-I really don't know."

"I think you do." Why was he so angry at me? "I think you know perfectly well what's going on, you can't toy with me. I won't let you, whatever you're planning,-"

"Stop." I stopped him where he was in mid-sentence. All this accusing was no good for my poor little out of place heart "I'll show you." I tried my best to ignore the elder dragon's words clamoring in my head. I reached under my shirt and pulled out the crystal. Passing the strap over my head, I handed it to him.

"Oh." His eyes widened. He picked it up from my outstretched palm. "Alisha…" his mood changed entirely, now the anger was gone. His voice was soft, almost a whisper. My fluttering heart was still squeezed in with the butterflies from my stomach, I hoped they would calm down as quickly as the Doctor did.

"What?" I asked cautiously, maybe if he was concentrating on given me information then he wouldn't think about me.

"Do you know what this is?" he held the necklace aloft

"No. Is it important?" I kept going, it looked like it was working. Or somehow his previous outburst had been rendered obsolete.

"When did you get it." he ignored my question

"Rancash." I was truthful. No use lying anymore, plus I knew he could tell.

"Of course." He gave the purple crystal a troubled stare

"Doctor, tell me." I urged, his worry wasn't doing me any favor stress wise. The butterflies were of an entirely different nature now.

"The Rancashi place a lot of importance to memory." This wasn't a tangent. It was an intro. "They have even developed sets of sounds that trigger just the right centers of the brain to make someone remember, say, where they put their keys." He looked back to me. "This is what they call a soul-finder." I stared unblinking at the unfamiliar term "It helps with amnesia."


	7. Amnesia

"Doctor, please…" I squeaked "I-I really don't know."

"I think you do." Why was he so angry at me? "I think you know perfectly well what's going on, you can't toy with me. I won't let you, whatever you're planning,-"

"Stop." I stopped him where he was in mid-sentence. All this accusing was no good for my poor little out of place heart "I'll show you." I tried my best to ignore the elder dragons words clamoring in my head. I reached under my shirt and pulled out the crystal. Passing the strap over my head, I handed it to him.

"Oh." His eyes widened. He picked it up from my outstretched palm. "Alisha…" his mood changed entirely, now the anger was gone. His voice was soft, almost a whisper. My fluttering heart was still squeezed in with the butterflies from my stomach, I hoped they would calm down as quickly as the Doctor did.

"What?" I asked cautiously, maybe if he was concentrating on given me information then he wouldn't think about me.

"Do you know what this is?" he held the necklace aloft

"No. Is it important?" I kept going, it looked like it was working. Or somehow his previous outburst had been rendered obsolete.

"When did you get it." he ignored my question

"Rancash." I was truthful. No use lying anymore, plus I knew he could tell.

"Of course." He gave the purple crystal a troubled stare

"Doctor, tell me." I urged, his worry wasn't doing me any favor stress wise. The butterflies were of an entirely different nature now.

"The Rancashi place a lot of importance to memory." This wasn't a tangent. It was an intro. "They have even developed sets of sounds that trigger just the right centers of the brain to make someone remember, say, where they put their keys." He looked back to me. "This is what they call a soul-finder." I stared unblinking at the unfamiliar term "It helps with amnesia."

I paused "What do you mean in helps with amnesia?" The butterflies were leaving, and doubt moved in like a distant storm front.

"It triggers the parts of the brain that are responsible for the memory block and slowly, well unblocks them." He tapped the surface of the pendant "Of course it doesn't work when those memories are completely gone, but in your case, evidently, they aren't."

"So you're saying I have amnesia." The butterflies vanished to leave the shock some space.

"To some extent yes." He was thinking about something "You are very odd you know that."

"Apparently." I never thought so, I'd always though I was average really. Not particularly smart, not particularly pretty, a bit on the large side…

"Oh yes you are. You're very special." He starting pacing. "Think about it… First the translator doesn't work. Now that never happens! Then it turns out you don't register as a proper lifeform to deeper scans, actually I did bit of digging with that scan I took before Rancash." He whirled around to face me "Changing the depth to maximum gave me a big ol' error screen. You literally made the TARDIS scanners short out!" I was a bit impressed at that. Wow. "And then there's this" he held out the soul-finder as he called it. "That explains a few of the how's, but absolutely none of the why's, or…" he took a step towards me "most importantly…" another step, I felt uncomfortable "the who." OK, so my attempt to direct him onto one of his tangents had not worked, and he was still very keen on getting "the truth" out of me. And that hard stare was enough.

"My name is Alisha Esther Parks. I was born in Boston, I then moved here to London when I got to university." I was slowly imploding under his harsh gaze, I just hoped reciting my entire history at him might save me from whatever wrath was going to fall upon me. "My mother's name is Joan, my father is Phillip, I don't have any siblings. And I swear I remember having a life for every moment up till now." His gaze was not any softer. "Please, if I really had a life before this, I don't remember it." I pleaded. "I've got amnesia Doctor, I'm not going to remember much… Hell I didn't even remember I didn't remember in the first place."

"That's not exactly true…" he mused "But you have a point Alisha Esther Parks" hearing my full name from him was possibly the worst thing he could've done. My heart was crushed by the formality. "You yourself may not know… But you aren't getting this back until I know what is being unlocked and that it won't hurt you." He shook the pendant a little on its string before shoving it in his pocket. Judging by the number of things he put in and took out of them I suspected they were infinite, or at least suffered from the same dimensional transcendentality as his ship. I pushed my musings on pockets aside for moment to concentrate on the enormity of what'd just happened. He'd found out, found the secret I'd been keeping for reasons unknown to me. In essence I was free, free from the influence of the blasted thing…

"Can I stay then?" I asked, that was my main worry really. I really didn't want to go back to my old life. Even if this one was terrifying, it was so much better. Plus he was there, he gave me more attention than I'd ever received from my rather distant parents, that was a change. And I liked it.

"What do you mean 'can you stay'?" he frowned at me as if I'd missed something tremendously obvious "Of course you can stay, why do you ask?"

"Well, with the thing, and me not being…" I trailed, not really wanted to face the implication that was looming in the distance of the conversation.

"Alisha…" he smiled "You're still you. Even if it's just for now." Oh yes, just for now…

"But what about later." I now pressed him on other worries, since my staying wasn't a problem anymore. "If I remember…" I didn't know how to express this. "Will I… still be, well… me?" he was listening, caring. I was thankful for that, for his ability to drop anger like it'd never been there. For him listening, no one listened to me really. It's funny how coming to appreciate someone just comes at the oddest moments. Like now.

"Alisha… listen." He leaned against the console. "I've had a few run-ins with amnesia myself…" I somehow was not surprised to hear that, he sidled away from the console towards me "And one thing I can tell you… You never really change. You may not remember who you are, but deep inside, right down to the core…" he gently tapped my collarbone, my heart fluttered for a second. "You're still you" his tone was strangely comforting as he explained.

"Whoever 'me' might be." I added, slightly less depressed.

"Don't worry about it Alisha." I smiled weakly, easier said than done. "We'll find out what going on." He pulled me in for the hug. I didn't resist, I needed it. This was happening more often, not that I minded.


	8. Nightmares- A Prelude

I didn't know where I was. I looked everywhere, nothing but fire. Fire on one side, fire on the other, circling around me in a theatre of blazing walls. A siren sounded, blaring across the skies, I ran. Ran so far. A blinding light to my right, chaos. Fire, more fire. I was surrounded. The siren, the cries of unfamiliar words, the heat, the unbearable heat. Screaming, always screaming everywhere, it burned, everything hurt so much, the fire, the heat, the light, the screams, the air itself was incandescent.

"Pay attention." The words were loud and clear. I whipped my head around to stare in the direction they came from. I couldn't see. "Listen." Said the figure stepping forward out of a flame. My voice, that was my voice. But colder, harsher. I watched as the slender silhouette defined itself against the flames.

She looked like me. But different. Completely entirely different yet completely exactly the same. I concentrated on her, and the surroundings died out, the screams died, the fires disappeared, only darkness and her. Just her and me. Someone who looked like me but wasn't. Who was she?

"Let me go." She said eyes cold and impassive. Her mouth didn't move, yet I heard the words. I didn't answer. She was beautiful, in a way I couldn't be. It wasn't her looks, they were the same as mine. It was her.

Tall and proud, she stood tall and proud. Her shoulders squared off under the red and silver uniform. A gun hung loosely from her belt, she bore the weight easily, in a way it was as if a part of her. Her neck stretched above the arched collar of the jacket, the red helmet framing her face. Her arms hung by her sides, not limp, but telling of the strength they could carry, her right hand hovering near the hilt of the gun at her hip. Tense, and powerful. All in the stance, nothing was out of place.

"Let me go." The words were more forceful. Her power was immense, that much was clear. There wasn't any light around, but somehow she radiated it. Not literally, but she glowed with the intrinsic feel of power, of superiority. And she knew it. Arrogance painted her words, colored her condescending stare, sat in the clenched jaw and in the tight lipped ghost of a scowl on her lips.

"How?" I whispered, timid in the face of her. Of her power, the sheer mention of her would surely bring fear to the hearts of men. Whatever her name might be.

"Die." The word was clear, devoid of emotion, as were her eyes, cold grey stones set in sandstone beneath wrought iron curls.

I woke up with a start, staring at the little painting on the wall. A single bead of sweat rolled down my brow onto my temple and went to bury itself in my shirt. It was dark, yet I could make out the outline of the tree and the hill. I concentrated on them, calming down. I took a deep breath. Just a dream, it was just a dream. Just a nightmare, the product of my imagination and the fears of the last day's due. My breathing slowed, I concentrated on pushing the terrifying little dream into the back of my mind. Except it obstinately refused to leave.

I lay my head back on the pillow and stared at the thick cloth draped on the frame above the bed. I couldn't sleep now… I turned on my side, restless. I had received a death threat… From myself.

Except she wasn't me. She looked like me, but didn't quite fit. There was an aura about her… It scared me. Chilled me to the bone. I turned on my other side. The change in position did not bring any more calm. I tossed onto my back again. Not much better.

I couldn't go to sleep now… What if she came back? What if she made due on that threat?

How? How would she get to me? Because I knew she would.

Why? Why did she look like me? Why did she want me dead? Because she wanted me to let her go… But how does me dying let her go?

It dawned on me.

Was she in my mind?

Silence.

"Your soul in time is lost." Came the whispered memory "Banished it is to the shadowed corners of the mind."

No.

"Remember you will."

No. This was not possible… The soul-finder, the dream, it was all connected.

"Let me go." Her all-too-familiar voice resonated in my head.

I catapulted myself out of bed and half-raced to the bathroom. In under a minute the lights were on and the tap was running. I stared at the water spinning down into the drain. Counterclockwise. Funny, I thought you need a spin to make that happen… Was the TARDIS spinning? It probably was actually, we were most likely currently floating randomly in space. I cupped my hands and collected some of the clear water. It was cold. I splashed my face, trying to clear my head. It worked a little, the shock of the cooler temperature did bring part of my sanity back. I raised my head.

Mistake.

I ended up staring at myself in the mirror, my own eyes calling up the image of fire and red leather uniforms. I straightened a little. I could probably do it. I hardened my gaze, clenched my jaw, squared my shoulders. That was part of it. I tweaked my facial expression a little. I came close. Too close. I looked away in a hurry. Too close for comfort. I was glad there was still a little bit of something missing. I wasn't her. That was good. That was good.

I was still not going to get any sleep now.

I wandered back to the room, turned on the lights and directed myself towards the closet. The usual, jeans, shirt, jacket. Funny how when you've got an infinite wardrobe you end up wearing the same the every day. Dressed I stepped out in to the dimly lit hall. A light draft caressed the back of my neck. I shivered

"Just walking around…" I said, seemingly to no one. "Clear my head."

The draft got warmer and disappeared. I wandered about the corridors. Walking. I tried not to think about it, about the dream, but it kept coming back. Like I was trying to throw a boomerang out to sea. I concentrated on my pace, not looking where I was going. Must not think, must not think.

I noticed a set of step on my right. The polished grey stoned were very familiar. I let my gaze wander up the carved banisters, climb up the elaborate door frame and culminate onto the seal above the door. The library… As good a place as any really. I took the steps lightly and placed my hand on the cool brass handle. I squeaked as I push the door open. Just as it had the first time.

It was dark. I could barely make out the rows of shelves in front of me. I stood still a minute to allow my eyes to adjust. The door closed noisily behind me, echoing in the high vaulted ceiling. I heard click. In the distance, distorted into a ghost of a sound. I noticed a faint light at the back.

"Alisha?" A voice echoed a little, disembodied in the gloom.

"Sorry." I apologized, I started to turn around. "I'll go if you're busy." A chair grated against the stone floors, the echo took it's time to fade. He waited for it to die before speaking.

"It's fine." I spotted the Doctor's silhouette come towards me. "What's got you up so late?"

"Couldn't sleep." I wasn't going to lie, maybe he could help "Nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?" a light flickered on, I blinked several times, startled by the brightness.

I shrugged "Come." He gestured to a space underneath the mezzanine.

We sat, I talked, he listened. His expression got more and more pained as I went. Like somehow he knew. I finished my story and stared weakly at my hands, folded on the table.

"I'm going to die aren't I?" I just knew it… Or not. Maybe it was the fear mingled with the insomnia.

"That'll never happen." The Doctor said softly "Alisha look at me." I raised my eyes to meet his "I would never let something like that happen to you." He cared, his eyes were full to the brim of compassion, and… love. Oh, why did he have to care so much? "You are a wonderful person, and I'm not letting whoever is behind that barrier change that, alright?" he looked at me expectantly

"Alright." I said quietly, nodding. "I'm just… scared."

"It's OK to be scared, Alisha." He placed his hand on mine "Just as long as you don't let it win." He smiled, I reciprocated weakly.

"Thanks." My voice was quiet still. Not letting fear dominate was easier said than done. "For everything." I needed to say it. If worst came to worst, at least this was out of the way.

"Any time." He didn't get it. That was fine. That was more than fine. He'd at least have heard me say it, if I did go.

For now I reveled in the contact. I tried to move my hands as little as possible, just so he wouldn't take his away. We stayed like that for a little while, but eventually he took his hand away and rose.

"Why don't we go somewhere?" he asked, obviously offering a distraction.

"Might as well." Oddly enough that was a good idea. Possibly the best. I followed him to the console room, following the same corridors as we had the first time.

I remembered that day, me having no idea who he was; him, seeing me having no idea how I got on his ship. We still had no idea… Maybe it was just luck, or chance, or fate. In any case, it was the best thing that ever happened to me.


	9. Legal Parking is Dangerous

"Here we go!" The Doctor approached our table at the little café with two cups. "Nice and hot."

"Thanks Doctor." I said accepting the cup he was handing to me. I took a sip, the sweet-sour blue liquid was not unlike apple juice in taste, but had a hint of something like grapefruit. In any case it was delicious. "This is a change from our usual MO." I noted, looking around the promenade of the space station we'd landed in.

"Yes it is." He nodded, also watching people go by "I've even parked legally! Now that's a change. And look!" He held out his hand to reveal the little metal chips nestled in his palm "I'm even using currency! It's been centuries since I've paid for anything!" He chuckled I joined him. "Plus, you looked like you needed a rest." That caring look returned to his eyes.

"Yeah…" I nodded slowly, watching a vaguely sheep-like alien walk by laden with what looked to be spare parts for something. "It's nice not to have to run for once. The running's brilliant but it takes a lot out of you." I looked back to the Doctor, he was still watching the crowd, he lifted his cup, taking a sip of the foamy something or other that looked like coffee but probably wasn't.

I let my eyes wander around the surrounding promenade, it was a rather open space for a space station, the tall ceiling was covered in large bay windows that let you see the stars outside. The support beams sported bright white lights illuminating the wide tiled walkways lined with shops. It was not unlike a mall on Earth, even with colorful signs pointing to things like parking lots, or in this case docking bays, since it was in space.

I half-listened to a conversation between the tender of a neighboring stall and the sheep-guy from earlier. They were haggling over some canister of something. Probably another spare part or of use in sparing parts. What state was his ship in any way that it needed that much fixing? From what he was carrying I wouldn't be surprised if you could build one from scratch! I went back to listening to the sheep guy's low modulated fog-horn like voice and the vaguely humanoid tender's rolled and rapid intonations. I didn't recognize their words, I'd purposely taken the translator off, just for the joy of hearing all these strange and wonderful languages around. It was truly amazing.

"Oh that's not going to end well." I heard the Doctor mumble, I followed his gaze towards the bantering couple I'd been observing.

"Why?" I was curious, I always like it when he talked. The information was all but useless to me, but it was fun to know.

"That stall over there." He pointed "The tender's a Librim and the shopper's an Arean and they're discussing the price of that canister of warp-stabiliser fluid." He looked to me to see if I was interested. I was, he continued "Warp stabilizers tend to get a bit hot, so they need coolant. Now usually the coolant is recycled and you don't need to replace it, but on certain older ships you do. And Areans have a tendency of fixing their ships till they completely break apart and loose them in space aboard an escape pod that'll barely fit them in. Sort of an extreme 'Don't fix it if it ain't broke' mentality" I held back a chuckle at the Doctor's sudden switch to an American accent for that sentence. He'd nailed it perfectly, and it had surprised me, I knew he was good with accents but he'd never done mine before. "The fluid is normally kept at a fixed price, on black markets sometimes you'll find it cheaper, but that's not what this is." He gave his ear a little tug as he wandered back onto topic "So the Librim here is being perfectly honest in saying that that seven cubit canister will cost seventy-five credits. But the Arean thinks, like the rest of his species, that the Librim is lying, and he wants a lower price. Of course, as usual with Areans, it's no use telling them that's the rules because they make a point of ignoring them. So, inevitably-" A sudden crash came from the stall "That'll happen. As with every time Areans deal with anything off their own planet." The Doctor gave an audible sigh, as if this was the umpteenth time he'd seen his siblings fight over the same thing. I pair of constables came to separate the two. After a bit of struggling, the Arean was carted off, the Librim was given a warning and calm returned.

I resumed watching the crowd, drinking in the various sounds of people's voices. I took a sip of my slowly cooling drink as I listened to the warbling conversation of a bird-like couple, they were beautiful, colorful feathers bouncing lightly as their springy steps propelled them forwards. I scanned the crowd again. I spotted a lone odd silhouette slightly above the rest. The poor guy was very lost it would seem, his long face showing a bit of panic, he let out a high pitched quivering tone, not unlike a foal's panicked whinny. I couldn't see him clearly anymore as a group of long necked individuals with spotted skin walked by. But I did see the very large figure moving towards him. If I thought the youngster was tall, his parent was titanic. The tip of the shoulder blades of her horse-like midsection peeking above the heads of the crowd and she was well placed to spot her son. Her voice was deeper than the shrill one from her son, tending more to a low soothing tone that I could probably replicate with a clarinet, if I knew how to play the clarinet. I watched them trot away, the sound of hooves against the tiles almost drowned about by the ambient mish-mash of noise.

"Sajetic" I turned my head to face the Doctor

"Sorry?"

"Those two you were watching. They were Sajetic, from Sejest." He explained "Funnily enough, near the Horsehead Nebula."

We spent the next few minutes spotting alien species, I would point, as discretely as I could, and he would give me a little blurb on them. It was fascinating. I thought of those skeptics that believed that life was created in such a random and unique process that we might as well be alone in the Universe. I mentally laughed in their faces. How could anyone think we were alone? No one is ever alone, especially not when the Universe is involved.

"It's funny." I mused out loud

"What?" the Doctor asked, intent in continuing to converse.

"Those people…" I gave a general wave towards the crowd "When they look at us, they probably think we're the same species…"

I saw him nod absent-mindedly, also looking out at the promenade. "Yes, yes they probably do." I couldn't see his eyes clearly, but it was clear from his demeanor he was sad. Just for a moment, then it was gone "How about we take a walk around?"

"OK." I downed the rest of my drink, now thoroughly cooled.

The cups were placed on a rack as we exited the little café. It surprised me when they entire platform shot inside the wall once we'd cleared it. I heard the Doctor laugh at my doubtlessly startled and clueless expression. I must've looked like puppy that's just discovered the sprinklers.

We walked around, he still pointed at things and explained, I still listening eagerly. We were standing in front of a colorful stall selling various pieces of bric-a-brac when, inevitably, everything went south.

The Doctor had been, to the best of his ability, explaining how this little cube he was holding, somehow, told the time. And I, to the best of my ability, was trying to comprehend.

"You see, the little strip of germanium sulphide in it heats up when the di-carbonic acid hits the ether below it and when that happens-" A loud siren cut him off, the walls flashed a bright pink.

"Mauve alert." he whispered, putting the cube down and looking around, trying to stop some kind of clue to the source of the apparent distress.

"Mauve?" I asked puzzled by the unfamiliar terminology

"You would term it red." Oh. That was bad then. Red alerts were never good. I took the translator out of my pocket and slid it behind my ear. No use listening to languages now, at this point, meaning would be a better option.

"-way to the nearest safe vault. I repeat, mauve alert, hostile ship approaching, make way to the nearest safe vault." The voice on the com chanted. This caused the crowd to stir, a veritable stampede towards the heavy doors that were rapidly opening towards the inner levels of the station.

"We'd better go." The Doctor took my hand as he strode out into the dangerously fast-moving crowd.

I somehow managed to keep up, him half-dragging me must've helped. The noise, while I thought it was loud before, now, with the panicked voices and occasional screams in the air, if was deafening. The translator was having trouble, only half the voices were actually understandable to me, but yet again the general feeling was rather unanimous.

Danger. Fear.

Running, pushing aside. Bright flashes of light, heat, rocks and dust in my lungs. I couldn't breathe, but I had to run, duty.

I shook my head clear of the unbidden thoughts.

I half-spotted the arching doors to one of the docking bays. I felt myself dragged into a relatively under-trafficked spot in a corner as the Doctor stopped. The doors were closed, we were stuck.

"I need to find a way around…" he said to himself. Quickly he turned to me

"Alisha, I need you to go." He said looking me in the eyes

"What?" I was surprised at his sudden change of attitude.

"Find a safe vault, just go with the flow, worst case scenario the constables will help you. Just stay safe."

"But you-" I hesitated. I didn't want to be alone. Not in a place and time where I didn't belong. Already that I had trouble communicating within my own species…

"I'll be fine." He stared me down, the pressure of his insistence behind his eyes "And so will you, I'm not going to leave you here. It's just I don't want you to get hurt." he said the words quickly but intelligibly "Now go!" he pushed me back into the crowd, I had no choice but to follow. It was that or get trampled.

I cast a look over my shoulder, in time to see the tail end of that familiar brown trench coat disappear behind the barreling chest of the reptilian merchant behind me.

I followed the crowd, occasionally some would branch off and disappear into the dark depth of one of the vaults. Very quickly I found myself bustled into one as well.

After the initial gloom it was actually not badly lit inside. A bit dim, but no worse than the university library in winter. I was half shoved inside by a constable by the door. I regretted being on the edge the instant I made the half-second eye contact. Fortunately it was only half a second. I scurried out of the way of everybody as thy milled about the room, getting somewhat comfortable. I heard the door close, very finally. I stashed myself in a corner, making myself as small as possible. In any case, from a quick look around the room, was the only one small enough to fit. Rather uselessly, we all just sat there. Or stood, or… whatever. I detected light snoring coming from a long-legged feathered individual near me standing one leg neatly tucked beneath the feathery skirt around his midsection. Evidently sleeping the wait and the stress of was one way to do it. I couldn't. There was no way I was doing anything other than stress at this point.

What was I supposed to do? I was alone in a place I didn't know and didn't belong, and the man who'd brought me here and was my only ticket home had whirled off to God knows where… I paced a small circle, keeping my footsteps quiet against the metal flooring. Why had he left me on my own? Why Doctor? Why? I couldn't handle myself here! Hell, I could barely handle myself on my own planet!

I hated it, every second. And the more it lasted, the more stressed I was. I stopped pacing in favor of curling up in my little corner, head between my knees. I didn't cry, I couldn't, that would make noise. No matter how silently I'd sob it would be noticeable, and the last thing I needed was a well-meaning alien to ask me what was wrong.

That would open a whole new can of worms about a specific well-meaning alien.

So I sat there in silence, hugging my knees tightly against my chest. I caught a curious look from someone I remembered the Doctor had pointed out as being Gemrin. From which planet I'd forgotten, something starting with R…

I tried to regulate my breathing… I partly succeeded, at least now I wasn't fighting against tears. I still fought the stress, I was completely lost.

A strange, strangled sound caught my attention. I looked up.

Another sob. Followed by a high pitched whimper, yet still in the pianissimo spectrum. Very quiet, barely audible.

Someone evidently was in the same boat I was. I looked between the forest of legs and other appendages used for standing in hope of finding the source.

I did. And it struck a blow to my heart.

There, not ten meters away, slumped pitifully on the ground, was the young Sajestic from earlier. His mother wasn't in here. That much was very obvious.

Unable to just sit here and watch him cry I crawled over, apologizing quietly to anyone I might be bothering.

"Hey." I said softly as I approached him. A long strand of thick brown hair fell over his face. Shorter strands of hair were draped on his thin bony shoulders and trailed in a short brush cut down his back all the way to his tail which was spread messily on the floor. He looked up, I noticed his eyes. Icy blue, rimmed and veined with navy.

"Hullo." He answered, not looking directly at me. His wide lip quivering lightly. I sat down in front of him, my back against the wall. His wide nostrils flared as he tried to contain another sob.

"Lost?" I asked already knowing the answer. He nodded, his dark grey-ish skin shining in the dim light where tears had flown. "Me too." He turned his head to look at me properly this time, I smiled.

"We can stick together. So we're not so lost, yeah?" I proposed, really, really hoping he'd say yes. His was, oddly enough, the closest thing to a familiar face.

"Yes." The sharp affirmative didn't correspond with his facial expression, I blamed the translator and the inadequacy of the English language for capturing extensive meaning.

"I'm Alisha." I said, I saw him mouth my name, trying to make sense of the syllables that were undoubtedly very odd sounding to him. "You?"

"Kyni." The first syllable odd little dip to it. Like it was a Y that wasn't pronounced as an I.

"Nice to meet you Kyni." I tried my best to replicate the sound of his name, though my human vocal chords didn't exactly catch the shrillness he put in the sounds. He didn't seem offended, I was glad for that, even if it wasn't because he understood my anatomy didn't permit for quasi ultrasonic speech.

We sat there for a while, I edged a bit closer to him. He shifted a leg so I could press my back against the wall. I heard his deep breathing, the sound the air made against his vocal chords was a surprising contrast to his high pitched voice.

"I want my mother." He whispered. I placed a hand on his foreleg.

"We'll find her." I looked up at him. "I promise. We just have to wait this out."

"I don't want to wait…" he sniffed "I-I'm scared." He looked away.

"We all are." I said, trying not to let my own fear show. "Just be brave, eh?" I was fleetingly aware of how much like the Doctor I sounded just then. Kyni nodded slowly, eyes still a bit wet.

"How old are you?" I asked, trying to make small talk. If I distracted him with conversation, maybe he wouldn't be so scared.

"Three and a half." He answered timidly. I wasn't surprised by the number, he sounded young. "And you?" he continued the conversation, to my great relief.

"Twenty-three." I responded, his eyes widened a little in curiosity. I smiled internally at my success at making him forget his fear.

"You're old." He stated, with the rudeness one permits only to a child.

"Not for my species." I said, the words felt a bit odd on my tongue, unfamiliar. How had my life had changed so much? A few months ago those words would have been right out of science-fiction.

"How long do you live?" the questions were the queries of a five-year old in human terms. His curiosity showed in his eyes.

"About a century, give or take a few years." I answered, trying not to make much of it.

"Wow." A light smile stretched on his lips "What your planet called?"

"Earth." And we were off.

He asked me to describe it, so I did. I described my home, Boston, where I grew up, the city, the skyscrapers the asphalt on the streets; the surrounding countryside with its blue skies and green grass and little country roads. Kyni listened in wonder. I described London, the university, the bustling activity of Picadilly Circus, the Thames and its countless bridges. I felt a bit homesick, but I kept going.

"That sounds beautiful." Kyni said when I'd finished.

"What does Sejest, look like?" I asked, curious myself about the young boy's planet.

"It's a bit dull really… But the hills are great fun!" I pressed him to describe, he was a bit reluctant at first, but in the end he took off about the blue grass and three moons, one always shining in the purple sky. I listened. We talk for what seemed like hours. And in the end, Kyni starte getting tired. And frankly, so did I.

"Come on kids, get up." I flickered my eyes open at the light prodding at my shoulder. "You can come out now." Said the raspy voice.

I felt a weight lift itself from my back, I straightened, disentangling myself from the groggy centaur-like Sajestic child whose stomach I'd falling asleep against. I rose to my feet, shaking sleep away from my head as I turned to face my interlocutor. One of the constables, a light smile on his reptilian face.

"Alert's over, you can go back outside." He said, tilting his head towards the wide open door.

"Oh, thanks" I muttered shyly. "Come on Kyni, let's go find your mom." I looked to Kyni, who then promptly got up. I remembered seeing young horses in a field once, and their uncoordinated attempts at getting themselves on and off the ground. Kyni was even worse, hooves slipping on the semi-smooth metallic flooring. Eventually though, he did gain a semblance of stability, at which point he towered over both me and the constable. We strode out, a trio of footsteps; Kyni's rapid clippety-clop, the constable's steady marching beat, and my own quiet rhythm, all echoing in the now empty space in a cacophonous symphony of percussion.

The constable left us as we entered the main promenade, then Kyni and I were left on our own. Now we had two choices, find the Doctor, or find Kyni's mother first. I opted for the easier task of finding Kyni's mom, I didn't want to be alone to search for my ride home, but at the same time it wasn't fair. Kyni was much younger than I was, both chronologically and mentally. It was my responsibility to get him home, as the elder of the two.

"Come on, let's get you home." I said as I stepped up a set of wide steps towards the upper level of the promenade, from there we'd be able to see most of the lower level. The steps were too long and slightly too high for me, it took me two steps to reach the next one. But Kyni had no problem, trotting up the staircase like it'd been made for him. He waited for me at the top of the stairs, a wide childish grin on his face, I smiled at his expression.

"Easy there horsy." I chuckled "My legs aren't as long as yours." I told the eager child as I hoisted myself over the last step, breathing hard. "OK, now we stay on the edge. How about I look down over the railing," I pointed, "and you look above the crowd up here since you're taller. Sound like a plan?" he nodded, swishing his tail, slightly uneasy. I understood, he wanted to get home. I was nice, but I wasn't his mother. I'd feel the same.

We went round about a quarter of the upper promenade went I heard a low fluted bellow which I now recognized as Kyni's name. The call was promptly followed by the ground shaking as the titanic figure of the young centaur's mother came cantering over. I watched them, it was a touching sight. Kyni's mother had bent down, extending a foreleg, and bending the other so as to be at the same level than her son who wrapped his arms tightly around his mother's chest, burying his face in the thick knitted scarf that flowed around her upper body.

"Thank you." The mother looked to me, her fluted voice melodious through the translator, not letting go of her son.

"It's nothing. I'm just glad we found you." I smiled, watching the two hug. The crowd skirted around them. The scene hit me in the heart, I would never forget them. "I guess this is goodbye." The two looked to me. "I've got to go find my friend…" I trailed.

"Thank you again, and may the skies be kind to you." The mother said, the phrase was probably a common adieu on their world.

"Fare well." I responded, with a little something from my own planet. We waved as we parted, I lost sight of them as the hulking mass of a ridiculously large sign blocked my view.

"Now to find the Doctor." I said to myself as I walked back down the steps.

The answer was easy enough, if I got back to the TARDIS, I could probably find a way to him, if he himself hadn't thought of the same thing already and was waiting for me there. In any case, it was a fairly obvious meeting spot.

I followed the bright yellow signs to the docking bay, dodging the occasional merchant or shopper whose field of vision didn't seem to encompass me. I quickly learned that the middle of the hall way was a dangerous place to be, and that the wall was a much safer place to walk. I was glad that they color coded everything. Otherwise I would've been completely lost.

The large doors to the docking bay provided solace from the crowd, and the bay itself was rather empty. We'd parked in airlock 42, or at least the one with the painted triangle thing and the circle thing. I walked along. I watched the symbols on the doors, looking for the one we'd parked in. I kept walking. There. I looked into the open airlock. And was instantly shocked into stumbling right back out again.

Nothing, the airlock was empty. Nothing blue in here. I stared in horror at the yellow painted walls.

He'd left me here. He'd left without me. Why? Why would he do that? He said he'd come back!

Was this entire trip but a ploy to lose me in a place I didn't know? No, that wasn't like him, if he wanted me off the TARDIS, he'd've dropped me back at home, like he had the last time.

Then why wasn't the TARDIS here?

My panic subsided a little when I notice a crumpled it of paper on the floor of the airlock. I bent over to pick it up.

It wasn't folded, not even nearly, this thing had never been folded. It had been balled up and thrown into the corner with raging passion. Slowly I unfolded the creased the note. I stared at the unfamiliar script. I couldn't read it. But it did recognize the seal, stamped neatly at the bottom. A chimera.

It was them again. The chimera, the one's who'd taken Ashton right of the university campus.

The Doctor hadn't left me… No, he was as stuck as I was. If he'd gotten here yet.

I squeezed the note in my hand, crushing the paper with growing rage as I stared at the empty space before me. They'd taken the TARDIS, why? I unclenched my hand. Releasing the note to the floor with a flick of my wrists. It bounced against the wall and landed in the corner where I'd found it.

My eyes widened as I realized what had happened.

The note had been crumpled when I found it.

The Doctor had been here.

The original thieves had probably left the note very neatly placed on the floor.

I turned around to the empty docking bay.

Silence and the hum of machinery…

Where was the Doctor now?


	10. Carry on My Wayward Child

"Keep calm, keep calm…" I kept telling myself after I'd wandered the corridors aimlessly for about two hours "If you were a demented psychopath where would take the Doctor?"

I thought about that for a moment, 'my ship' seemed a decent answer except I wasn't going to search through every single docking bay containing each over fifty ships. Plus they were probably long gone.

I needed to think.

I found a sign that seemed to contain the image of some kind of plant topped with a star, that was either a garden or a pharmacy, or some other trade I was not aware existed. I followed it, which at least gave me a direction.

It turns out it was a garden after all. I found a secluded bench and sat, resting my weary feet. Space stations were big, a lot of walking was involved, too much walking.

OK, now think.

Mauve alert, that's when you last saw him. They said 'hostile ship approaching, meaning they knew what it was and deemed it necessary to send everyone for cover. Those people in the said hostile ship had then presumably then taken the TARDIS as spoils of a war that had never been fought and apparently taken equal interest in her pilot…

Now what?  
I was stuck, presumably the reason we'd been let out was that the ship was well out of sight. Which meant that my only way home was very much out of reach. I could perhaps get a shuttle, but I didn't know how to pilot it, or how to pay for it… I guessed I could steal one but that would prove unwise on multiple levels…

I was stranded. Positively and utterly marooned in a place I didn't recognize or know anything about.

"Something the matter dear?" I heard a gentle voice behind me. I turned around. "You look troubled." She came and sat next to me with impossible grace in her step.

"Yeah, I'm a bit stuck." I responded to the strangely human blond woman who was currently perched next to me.

"What do you mean?" her melodious voice was very soothing, I felt I should tell her everything

"Long story…" I couldn't just tell anyone anything… Especially if they made you want to. "Who are you?"

"Miriel, Priestess of Saria. Welcome to our Gardens." She smiled. I sighed internally, why were all calm places in busy markets always religious? And why did some member always have to interfere with me? The last time a similar situation unfolded it didn't go very well for me in the long run. "Now tell me, what's got your heart so tied up in worry, starchild?"

"I'm lost, and my friend's ship is gone. I have no way to get home." I admitted. Maybe she could help me. I didn't have much of any other options…

"Why don't you take a transit?" she suggested calmly

"No way to pay, plus…" I shrugged "There are no transits to where I'm going." I didn't think there were shuttles five centuries into the past and headed to a lone planet two hundred light years away.

"Really?" her tone was skeptical

"I highly doubt it."

She nodded, smiling and accepting my seemingly ridiculous statement as true. I thanked her for that, I didn't want to have to divulge that particular bit of information with anyone… It would get very complicated very fast.

"What's your name starchild?"

"Alisha." I answered, suddenly realizing my name was basically all I had right now.

"And where are you from that is so remote that no ship can take you."

"Far away, too far." I started to feel a strange melancholy. Home was very, very far. "Further than I can probably fathom. Where is here by the way?"

"Station Deres, orbiting Fira Prime." She answered smoothly "You said your friend was gone. Do you know when he left?"

"He didn't exactly leave…" I sighed

"Oh…" she put her hand on my shoulder, understanding what I meant "I'm sorry."

"Who were they?"

"The dominion of the Chimera. Led by Eritrain Myth, pirate of the stars." She sighed "I'm sorry, but you were right. You are indeed, 'stuck'."

"Is there no way I can catch up with them?"

"That would be folly, starchild. The fleets of the Chimera know precious little of life and even that they smother to extinction."

"I figured."

"You can stay with us." She offered her hand. "The Order of Saria would be glad to count you as a member, starchild."

"I don't know…"

"You would be safe. Which is more than what you have, Starchild." Her emphasis on the pet name was greater this time

"Why do you call me that?"

"It is our belief." She explained still ever so kind "Every living being was forged in the heart of a star; we are all children of the Universe, the sons and daughters of the stars. All beings are one and the same, regardless of shape or home planet. The Universe gives us all life, and then takes it for itself before giving it again. The stars are the gateways to and from life." I nodded, it made sense. Carbon being forged in stars from hydrogen fusion, most living things being made of carbon… It made sense. "Every member is named for one of their parents." So that meant a star "Miriel is the name given to a red star in the constellation of Rensara."

As religious faiths go, this one was reasonable, especially since it was true, and the name thing was just a little quirk. I hesitated. I had nowhere to go, yet people don't just join religious orders because they're lost. Actually no they do. That's exactly why you join an order. Because you can't go anywhere else.

"Let us teach you. I promise, no harm will ever come to you while you are with us." She offered her hand again. "Come." I could see the 'recruiting desk' face on her, the marketing was obvious. But it was somewhere to go. I wasn't as if I was going to see the Doctor anytime soon, or ever again.

I took her hand. She smiled "Follow me starchild." She got up and turned towards the back of the garden.

"Hold a minute there." A bulky form stepped out from behind a tree. "You don't mind if I object?"

"Be gone, she is of Saria now." Miriel said forcefully

"Don't take me for an idiot missy." His Australian accent was very pronounced "She hasn't done the naming ceremony. Yes, I know how you Star Gazers work, it's not that hard to remember from last time." An offended look from Miriel "Come now darlin', hand her over and no one will get hurt."

"Why should I, beast of chimera?"

"Oh I like that name! So much more color!" he commented "Because she's interesting you and therefore interests me master which interests me. Now hand her over." He extended a gloved hand "No bloodshed, I know you care about that very dearly."

"I will not betray my own."

"Your own!" he scoffed "You've just recruited her! No one needs to know, and I give you my word I will not tarnish your starry honor by breathing a single line of this to your superiors."

"No."

He sighed "You asked for it." he drew his gun. Miriel stepped in front of me.

"Chimera, it is best to let sleeping dogs lie." She said, a new fierceness in her voice.

"Yes but she isn't a dog and neither are you. But sure as hell will shoot you like one." The revolver clicked as he cocked it.

"You do not know what you are dealing with."

"No I don't, which is why I'm taking her to Myth." I saw his finger twitch as he started to squeeze the trigger, he hesitated half a second. That gave me time.

"Stop!" I shouted, pushing past Miriel "Take me, but don't hurt her."

"Starchild, no." she grabbed my arm, her grip was loose but strong.

"My name's still Alisha." I said a little coldly. "I'm sorry Miriel, but I don't want you get hurt. Not for the sake of a sisterhood I didn't sign." She smiled sadly, but gave in, letting go of me.

"Very well Sirius." A new name. I knew Sirius was a star, bright and shining in the night sky back home. "I will not forget you, not for your faith or for your loyalty to a sister you didn't sign for." I'd been let in, semi-officially. Name and all.

"Very nice starlight." The Aussie cut in. "Off we go 'starchild'" he grabbed my arm, his grip almost cut off the circulation.

"If I never see you again, beast of chimera, it would be too soon." Miriel was resolute but knew she couldn't do anything.

"The same to you starlight." He sat. I saw him press a button on his shoulder.

The feeling that followed was most uncomfortable, like being dumped in a pool of ice cubes and once in there being stuck full of needles. Thankfully it only lasted a short while. I found myself staring at a wall in a well-lit corridor of what I assumed to be the starship that had sent everyone scurrying underground earlier.

"Welcome on the Trophy, now move." He gruffly shoved me forward, still holding my arm in his grip.

We walked a corridor, as we neared the end of it I heard a voice, loud and arrogant.

"Imagine that!" I heard it say, I couldn't tell whether it was male or female. "I thought I was lucky to just stumble across a TARDIS in a mall station's docking bay. But imagine my surprise when I find the Time Lord that goes with it! Which is quite a feat considering Gallifrey's current state of… existence." Looks like I'd found the Doctor after all. Although I wondered what the voice was referring to when they said 'state of existence'. "You two are going to be the crown jewels of my collection."

"Collection of what, Myth." Yep, definitely the Doctor.

"Of things, I fancy myself to be a bit of an intergalactic collector." The voice mused "Might conquer a planet with it… Might not… Depends if it's interesting really. Although a planet might be a bit bulky don't you think? An asteroid would be much easier, but they're just lumps of space rock, nothing special in there."

"Master Myth?" My captor called into the room from the corridor.

"Yes Mike?" 'Mike' pushed me into the doorframe with his own bulk "Oh splendid! I knew it was a good idea!" I shot a glance to the Doctor, we made eye contact. He was rather uncomfortably seated on a kind of dais. Not unlike a pedestal in a museum, at this point he just looked inconvenienced and bored. I didn't see the TARDIS in there with him.

"Tell me Mike." The tall blond… person, bent over to look me over "What is she then?"

"Star Gazer was interested and very intent on keeping her." He said, keeping his gaze level, not looking at Myth "Thought if they wanted her that badly there must be some interest."

"Yes, indeed" Myth ran a finger along my jaw, pushing my head into a tilt. It was uncomfortable. "Take her to an empty spot, I'll be there shortly."

Mike whisked me off and in a blur of motion I was sat in a chair in a very empty room. It was not very big, enough for me and space for three people to walk abreast around a cordoned off circular area around me. This felt a lot like a museum. I didn't like it. And I instantly was bored.

I'd never stopped to think about how the exhibits might feel… Already that museums were boring as it was… Not being able to do much moving didn't help.

They could at least give me a book. Or two. Or three.

As promised Myth came in. It still bothered me a tad that I couldn't out they're gender. Short blond hair, tall stature, basic humanoid appearance really except for the light reddish markings on the temples. A graceful and light gait, thin face, soft blue green eyes… I settled on using 'they' to avoid confusion later on.

"I fail to see what had Miriel so interested in you…" they said flatly "Usually she has rather good taste, but this time…" they grimaced their incomprehension.

"I don't appreciate being insulted to my face." I muttered

"Oh..." They laughed "Sharp one aren't you?"

"Possibly." Was not happy. Not at all. This chair was highly uncomfortable.

"Huh…" they walked around me, as if looking over a work of art, looking to buy "No… I still don't see it."

"See what?" I asked sarcastically. I allowed myself to be a little insulting. It was a release and usually collectors don't tend to break their well… collector's items.

"What makes you worth your own space." They sauntered to the door "Excuse me while I fetch a scanner."

"Bring a cushion while you're at it." I said as they left me alone again.

This situation was just irritating. It wasn't dangerous, or painful in the torture sense, it was just boring. It wasn't like they were going to kill us, they were just… keeping us. Like rocks in a curio cabinet or books on a shelf.

At least if I could do anything else but sit…

"Here we go." Myth wheeled in a cart "Miriel had to have some reason to want you… Let's find out what it was."

"You know Miriel?"

"The Star Gazers have very good taste in recruits, and Miriel is possible the best in picking the interesting ones. I let Mike sit tight with her every time we make a pass at Deres." They punched a few buttons. I was frankly amazed they were talking, probably because they knew I couldn't do anything about it. "She used to be his wife you know? Before he joined me. After that she became Miriel. Now let's see." They stared at the screen. "Human, 23… Boring." They scowled "Ah, Dextrocardiac! Unusual… But not enough, I mean I've got a binary next door." I didn't understand what that last sentence meant. Not a clue. "I really don't see what's so special." They took another look at me. Then seemed to notice something. He walked over, curious, stepping over the cordon.

"Now what… Is this?" he plucked the translator form behind my ear. Right. I'd forgotten that was there.

He formed a few slippery words in his mother tongue, fiddling with the little earpiece. He looked to me and asked a question.

"Translator." I said. I assumed that was the question. He nodded. Apparently he could understand me just fine. Another question, one word.

"Automatics don't work." Another nod, this time with more interest.

They said something else as they walked to the scanner. This time I felt the tingle as the beam passed through me. He'd done a deeper scan.

An exclamation, a press of a button, the tingling again. A puzzled stare. A resolved set of four words.

A jolt. A genuinely starstruck expression on Myth's face. They looked at me, stated a few lightly angered watery words. I shrugged as best I could in my strapped in position. They grimaced evidently frustrated. Two words repeated. Seven words, ominous. I didn't like them. Myth strode out, muttering to themselves, evidently very irritated and flustered.

I didn't like the white clad figures that walked in either. I was efficiently untied and carted off through the corridors.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, fearful. No response. I struggled, trying to get me arms free. They held me tight, I tried to stop. That didn't work either, my feet just slipped on the smooth metal.

They dragged me into a room, white walls, screens everywhere, bright lights, and a most threatening chair in the middle. This did not bode well.

They wrestled me out of my clothes and into a thin onesie-type thing with an open front, then pushed me into the chair. I fought, but they were strong. More straps, I struggled and screamed for them to let me go. But they ignored me. I stared ahead in complete and utter fear as I heard the figure bustle about me, doing thing I could not see. Please no. No.

I couldn't move, at all, while before I'd been tied, now I was immobilized. I shivered as they passed something that felt wet against my arm. A pinprick.

The cold swept through me an soon after I didn't understand what was going on. I didn't understand much of anything to be honest. Why was I cold? Why couldn't I move?

I felt a trickle of warmth creeping down my side, soaking delicately in the gossamer thin fabric. I didn't comprehend were it came from. A fiery lance of pain stabbed me in the chest, I tried to scream but a gargled and slurred whine came out instead. The neat line of sharp fire descended down my body, slowly, carefully, painfully. Then it stopped, allowing me a small moment of reprieve. I stared wide-eyed and afraid at the masked beings before me, one holding a metal object of some kind. Small, snake like, with a little glimmering thing on the end that reflected the light into my eyes.

The fire came back, I screamed, properly this time. The scream was choked out of existence as the thing that'd just entered me rested on my lungs, coiled around my vocal cords, wrapping my very mind in endorphin. I floated, entranced in the pain. Then pain died. Everything did. Something wormed its way around in my gut, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything. I existed, disembodied, barely connected to myself, floating, slightly above, watching from a distance.

Now!

I fell, back into my own body, surprised by the barked order to myself. The fire returned full force, searing my mind. I howled.

Fire, screaming children, the dying cries of someone I knew.

I stared stupidly in front of me, not making sense of the blinding images my eyes provided.

An explosion, a crumbling tower, the enemy chanting victory.

Make it stop. Please. Make it stop. Not again, please, please not again. I can't take it. Not again, not again.

Again?

Let me out! Let me out! Out! Now!

I struggled against my bonds, rage mingling with fear linking with pain, all in a ghastly cocktail of hormones and confusion.

I need to get out! Let me go!

The two masked figures stood in front of me, all movement stopped. They stared. I glowered at them. I pleaded them. I threatened them with fire. I begged for my life. I tensed against the back of the chair, I strained my leash. The straps held me fast, I gave up. I redoubled my efforts. I was tired. My energy surged, anger filled my veins, banishing the snake of pain, burning the venom in my heart.

The anger, the pain, the heat of my blood against my skin, the raging fire in the pit, the blizzard wrecking a long deserted wasteland, the dog growling in its cage. It all came back, I let it out, pure unadulterated fury bursting out of my chest like a pouncing tiger. This scream wasn't one of pain, it was wild, angered. A howl to rally the pack, a call to kin that didn't exist. I'd lost them… All of them. I'd lost so much…

Had I? When?

The people I loved where gone, the only family I had was dead.

No it wasn't…

My home was gone, there was nothing now. Only fire. So let there be fire! Let there be a blazing hurricane of icy rage, let the stormy heart of a supernova descend on these puny beings! Oh those two dare defy me! How irrational of them…

The fire raged across my soul, the blizzard wrecked the landscape, the mastiff laid waste to the tame little village of paper and gilded leather.

No…

How dare they!? I was a force of nature! The Universe was mine to rule and create and destroy! Time itself obeyed my command! How dare these primitive little men take arms on me!? They should be cowering in fear at the sight of me! They should be running for their lives!

I'm scared. Who am I?

I wrenched my body out of my bonds in a fit of rage, eyes blazing, telling tales of fire and ash and cities turned to dust. They looked surprised, as well they should be. The two of them didn't last a minute.

What've I done?

I rose up to my full height, proud, as well I should be. Billions of years of heritage and creation behind me; epic legends of triumph, loss and war. I was never meant to be tied to a chair. I strode of the door, shattering the glass encasing the gun hanging on the wall in a single movement. It was probably for emergencies, well now they had one. Me. The alarm blared the corridor flashed with the universal mauve of danger. A pair of sentries came rushing towards me, gun at the ready. I raised mine, cool, composed. I looked them in the eyes before taking charge if their fates.

My strides were as great as my desire for revenge. I marched to the beat of a drum. I would avenge my own, I would take revenge on those that had taken away what I loved most. They would pay with their blood the blood of my kin.

I walked into another room, four guards. Four discharges, four bodies. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. There was nothing but a box in this room. It was very blue, and had a curious language written on it. I let myself be distracted for a second by the dimly familiar linear symbols. All in a line, how odd. Footsteps resounded behind me I whirled on my heels, locking on and firing at will. He fell before even sighting me.

Suddenly something caught my notice, on the wind. The tang of metal and a lavender-filled summer wind heavy with rain. Foretelling of storms to come, foretelling of lightning strikes and gale force winds. I followed it down the corridor. Three more guards. I ducked into the room.

Then I saw him. This was not one of mine. He was kin yet not kin.

But I know him!

I growled under my breath at my inability to place him. He was not mine. He stared back at me, superior, powerful. Then I knew. I lowered my gaze, respectful, submissive.

"My lord." I acknowledged his rank. I noticed my own native tongue tripping uneasily over my lips, out of practice.

"Excuse me?" he sounded puzzled, his accent didn't fit. "Alisha? What are you saying?" The name was wrong. Close but not mine. His eyes told me of my own insanity. Or presumed insanity. I heard a call on the com, it called for reinforcements. Something moved in the corner. Not thinking I shot. A small whimper. I had missed my mark.

"Alisha!" he shouted, surprised, outraged, not understanding. His shielding was awful. "That was not necessary!"

"We'll discuss ethics later, my lord." I glanced behind me to the corridor. The marching footfalls of oncoming guards were getting closer. I made a quick judgment call of what to do. "But right now my priority is your safety, sir." I positioned myself by the door jamb, ready to fire. "I presume you have a way of getting us off?" I had no intention or desire of staying on this bucket of bolts any longer than I had to.

"Yes…" he seemed to not comprehend something about me. We'd deal with that later. "It's in the other room…" he stood there. I stared at him expectantly. Twenty seconds, thirty… I glanced to the corridor, the guards were coming close, I raised my gun at the ready. I fired a shot, one down. Two, three. All of them.

"My lord, I suggest we hurry." I checked the charge, orange, almost out. "I cannot guarantee your safe return if we don't leave before I run out of charge."

"Right." He was a bit slow. I fleetingly wondered how he'd ever graduated.

He went to the corridor, the coast was clear. I kept on my toes beside him, checking forwards and behind.

We came into the room with the box. Apparently, that was his ship. I kept my eyes on the door. He walked up to it producing a key, the door squeaked. I backed into it, the doors closed. The room jolted as we took off.

"Now are you going to tell me what is going on?" his voice was harsh.

I looked to him. "I don't understand your meaning sir."

"You understand perfectly well Alisha." He glowered "Since when are you so intent, and skilled, at shooting people?" outrage, well controlled.

"Since I was trained to do so." He raised an eyebrow "And my name is not Alisha." I dared correct him.

"Then what is it then?" Now he was impatient, curious, angered. Rassilon, someone should teach him how to shield better! This was indecent!

"Illishaicaraanseon." I stated. I'd bother with rank when he asked for it. Always answer the question you are asked and only the question you are asked. Any additional information is irrelevant.

He paused and made a point of getting my attention. I met his gaze. He checked, I smirked internally. "You're a Time Lord." he breathed, the odd accent was gone. I frowned, sceptical.

"No sir." I was amused by his mistake. He wordlessly asked for an elaboration on my statement. "Chancellory Guard Lieutenant Illishaicaraanseon of the Sixth Tarali Patrol, sir." I gave a brief salute.

"Don't do that." He said, almost reflexively. "You're part of the Watch?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay…" The term was entirely alien to me and that funny accent of his was back, I'd no idea what it meant "Now what've you done with Alisha?"

"Missing presumed dead, sir." I answered a little cynically.

"I'm warning you, Lieutenant." He wasn't amused.

"I don't know." I admitted. I assumed 'Alisha' was the name of the other mind they'd shoved in place of mine. "As stated before, missing presumed dead."

"You killed her?" the sentence was more of a statement than a question, but he was giving me the option to defend myself.

"To be quite honest sir, I'm glad to be back in my own body." He didn't know how to answer that… His lack of proper shielding irritated me. He paused, three seconds, five.

"How old are you?" he asked, seemingly off topic. I knew better than to assume that.

"One hundred and forty three, sir" He grimaced.

"You're a kid…" evidently he was thinking of rather tedious and unpleasant scenarios involving explaining.

"Do not let my youth fool you, sir" I countered "Being Prydonian, you of all people should know appearances are deceiving."

"How did you know I was Prydonian?"

"To be quite honest, sir, it's the way you walk and talk like you own the place."

"I do own the place." Again he wasn't amused, actually a little insulted.

"I know, sir" I answered "But if you didn't understand what I meant by that, then you wouldn't."

He understood that and frowned, slightly insulted. "Did your superiors like you?"

"No, sir." I was confused by his use of the past tense but didn't point it out.

"I can see why…" he mused. "Anyway, I don't know if you've noticed that cut in your chest…"

I looked down and noticed the deep scar leaking blood. I touched a sticky red trail running down my abdomen "Indeed not, sir." I said while staring blankly at the smear of haemoglobin on my fingers.

"Let me fix that." He beckoned me over into a corridor.

He led me to the medical bay, where he promptly pulled out a tissue reparator from a drawer. He came over, I expected him to hand me the device and let me bother with my own injury myself, but he didn't. Instead going in for a full medical exam, coincidently leaving the cut open. I was puzzled by his concern, this was very unlike the Time Lords I'd met before, unwilling to get their hands dirty, literally or figuratively.

"One heart?" he asked as he wandered his stethoscope over my back. His tone was mildly surprised.

"First time around." I answered awkwardly, seemingly to his satisfaction.

"On the right?"

"Mistakes happen." Did he have to bring it up? I got teased by my squadron enough as it was, I didn't need it from him either.

Apparently the rest of my physical health didn't seem to illicit much alarm or concern or much of anything. He then bent over to examine the cut edged in rapidly coagulating blood.

"Oh…" he pulled a pair of glass out of seemingly nowhere and shoved them on his nose. "Wait a minute, this might hurt."

A pair of surgical gloves and a pair of tweezers later, he'd extracted a small metallic device from the wound. He had been right about it hurting. After making sure the cut was properly closed with little chance of reopening, he went off to examine the little slender thing. And I was left sitting on the examination bench. I watched him potter on with it, half talking to me, half talking to himself, muttering something about "last time" and "ending up half human", whatever that meant.

"Sir?" A mumble, he was listening. "Am I free to go?"

"Yes." I straightened and turned around. "You might want to get into something decent actually…" I nodded as he talked "The wardrobe is down the corridor, two lefts, a right, past the stairs, then left again." He illustrated the directions with his hands, a magnifying glass still in his right.

"Thank you, sir." I trotted off at the unofficial dismissal. If he didn't want me in his face, that was fine with me. At least he was out of mine.

I followed the directions down the organic themed corridors. I'd never liked the Time Lords, lazy senators, so much power and they just sat on it doing absolutely nothing. Even when the War started, they'd just sat, letting us Watchmen just die in the distance. All they did was issue useless orders, move us around like cups on a table, have us goat roping just for the sake of giving orders; just they could feel they weren't utterly useless. I spotted the stairs. I remembered when I was a child, dreaming of travelling in a TARDIS. I knew I'd never make it, I wasn't born in the right House, and my biodata wasn't deemed fit for the Academy either. The only option I had was the Watch. And a good option is was. I reached them and turned left. Before me was an exceedingly large room. I let my eyes wander around the forest of hanging cloth.

This was going to take a while.

I walked back into the console room, now feeling, admittedly, a lot more decent in uniform. It'd taken me a while to find one. Not that I'd expecting a junior grade Watch Lieutenant's uniform to be the first thing when you walk in. But I didn't expect it to be all the way in the furthest corner either.

"My lord?" I called, not seeing him. I was perfectly happy just standing there. But I didn't want to seem too keen to avoid him. That'd ended badly last time.

"Down here." Came a voice from below the decking. I slowly walked around the console and peered into the gap beneath an open section of the floor. He was fiddling with a junction circuit, and not succeeding from the looks of it.

"May I ask what you are doing, sir?" I was curious, and it seemed he somewhat tolerated my lack of proper respect. So I took advantage of it.

"Fixing the power." He mumbled, screwdriver between his teeth as he tried to untangle a section of wire from another. "Wouldn't want to drop out of the Vortex now would we?"

"I wouldn't know, sir." I didn't really know what the Vortex was and what falling out of it entailed. "But why are you doing it yourself, sir? Don't most Time ships have self-repair?"

"Not mine." He responded, distracted by a knot. "Type-40."

I eyes widened at the mention the antiquated model. "Type-40, sir?"

"Yes, problem?"

"No. None at all." I hid my fear of crashing from my voice. I might not know must about temporal mechanics but I knew this much: This was a museum piece, not a functional ship!

"Good." He managed to release one of the wires.

I watched him work a bit longer, then got bored "May I ask when we'll be headed home sir?" I asked "It's not that I don't enjoy your company, but I have a duty to uphold."

He stopped in his tracks, he didn't know what to do, a lie was forming in his mind but he shook it clear. I shook my head free of his badly shielded mind.

"That will not be possible." He said, sadness in his voice as he clambered up onto the main decking.

"Why not?" He hesitated "Why not, my lord?" I urged.

"We lost, everyone lost." It pained him to say it, I didn't want to believe what he was insinuating.

"No." I breathed "No, don't tell me that..."

"Gallifrey's gone Lieutenant." I didn't believe it, I couldn't , it couldn't be… "There is no one left… Just us."

I stood there shocked into paralysis. "You're lying." I spat "It can't be gone." I shook my head, not wanting to believe it. "It can't be!"

"I'm sorry Illishai…" he stared into a shiny bit of console. "I had to." He whispered

"YOU had to?!" I picked up on the throwaway sentence immediately. "What do you mean YOU had to?!"

"It couldn't go on any longer." His voice was quiet "It was the only solution."

"It couldn't have been!" I growled "How could you?" I couldn't contain myself. "How could you destroy your own people, destroy your own home! A home that I, amongst many, have fought so hard to protect! Spilt our blood to defend!" He looked down. My anger swelled. "And you come along and end it all. I assume it was for the good of the Universe? It was wasn't it? It's always for the good of the fucking Universe with you Timeys, every time. Never mind us soldiers, dying out in the field to protect you, your asses sat on your cosy chairs in the Panopticon. Oh no!" I glared at him "But you've done the impossible, you murderer, committed genocide against your own fucking people! How do you live with yourself…"

"I had no other choice!" he yelled

"And you tell yourself that!" I shouted back.

"You weren't there!"

"I was! I was there, I saw them. I watched them destroy Tarali, turn it to dust, I watched them kill my lover! I held her in my arms as she died!" I held back my tears at her screams echoed in my memory.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry!" I barked "Sorry, that's all you can fucking say?! Sorry for what? Sorry that I lost my heart to the Daleks? Sorry that they destroyed my home, or that you did?" That finished him, delivered the killing blow.

He stayed silent. If looks could kill, he'd be dead by now. I turned away. Storming off into a corridor, he couldn't see me cry. That murderer could not see me cry. I pushed open a random door, set above a few steps. Tears blurred my vision as isolated myself in a corner of the dark room.

I sobbed, falling to the floor. Gone. Everything was gone. I had no purpose now, thanks to him. Oh how I hated him now. I had hated the Time Lords since before I enlisted, now there was only one and I hated him more than I had their entire class.

How could he?

How?

How could he have destroyed Gallifrey? How was he still alive? Did he really not give a shit? Was his own home world just a blank name to him?  
It couldn't be.

Another wave of tears assaulted me as I visualized things as they were. I wanted to see things as they were, before. I remembered that day, the first day, the one I pledged I'd always remember. Exona and I, by the lake, still in training. Such a long time ago. Her lips on mine, the sweet scent of lilies and buttermilk as I held her tight.

That was all gone. The lake, the grounds, the city… Everything. Even the sky.

I had nothing. I was loyal to something that didn't exist anymore. I had failed. I had broken my oath, I didn't not protect Gallifrey, it had perished, betrayed by the hands of her own child.

Why hadn't I been there?

Because someone decided I was unfit. Because some bone-assed Brass said the Chameleon Arch needed a new model, because some dipshit came up with a new one. Then another desk flyer decided I was good experiment fodder, because I was 'emotionally unfit' for duty.

It was their fault, Dalek scum, for killing Exona, for killing me.

Then I came back.

I wished I hadn't.

I wished I could go back, behind the so called Alisha, put her back and kill myself. Smothered in my own mind.

But I couldn't. The barrier had been open and I'd rushed through. She was gone, the handy disguise. I'd cast her out into the flames.

Now all that was left was the cold. The cold of space as I imagined a cloud of dust where a golden planet should've stood. Mine, that was where I was from. It used to mean something.

Now there was nothing but a name. Just like me.

The watch meant nothing anymore, I was a Lieutenant, but a Lieutenant of what? No one knew the Chancellory Guard, even when we still existed no one took much notice of us.

I was only Illishai. Alone. Half my name irrelevant, the House of Icara destroyed along with everything else.

The tears subsided, having drained the dam of all water. I still sobbed, lying curled up on the cold stone tiled floor. What else could I do? I had nothing to fight for, and that was what I did. I fought. I fought to protect and defend. I swore to it.

Now that oath had slipped away. Leaving nothing but a void in its place.

One hour, two. I didn't move, and no sound disturbed the place. I sat up, my ribs complaining from the hard floor.

I had nowhere to go.

I wondered if I could find some aspirin somewhere.

Probably not here.

But if I could get dropped off, pretend I was alright…

The door squeaked as it was opened. "Illishai?" he called. I did not respond. I didn't want to. Traitor.

"Illishai, please." His footsteps echoed in the high-vaulted room. Murderer.

Silence.

"I'm not going to ask you to forgive me, I know you won't." He said, damned right I wasn't. "I'm not going to ask you to stay either." Like that was ever going to happen "But let me at least show you something." I didn't move.

"Illishai please, it's important." Grudgingly I got up and stood tall in front of him.

"What is it you so want to show me, My Lord." I spat out his title, like the insult it was.

"This way." He seemed to ignore my slander, but his mind said otherwise. Good.

He led me to another corner of the library, where a little alcove stood. It the alcove was a lectern, on the lectern was a large gilded book entitled "The Last Great Time War".

"Little trophy I see." He was hurt. Perfect.

"Open it." he stepped backwards "You'll understand."

I glared at him, standing tall as I walked past him to lift the cover.

The first page was a warning. I opened to the middle of the book, not wanting to read what I'd lived through already. Once was enough.

I stared horrified at the pictures, the words poured like tar over the page. The deeds like poison to my soul. The schematics for the worst things in the Unverse.

The Nightmare Child, a tremendous devourer with a gaping mouth with metal fangs dripping blood and fuel alike. Horrible to behold, a curse, I turned the page.

The Horde of Travesties. Travesties of Time itself! Deformed, savage, eyes rolling and bloodshot, faces scarred, limbs twisted and marred. I flicked to the next page, hoping for some miracle.

The Could-Have been King, his very existence wrong, his eyes staring vacantly out of the page into my own mind, screaming a terrible shriek right inside my head. My blood curdled.

The army of Meanwhiles and Never-Weres, ghosts of things that would've happened, the spectre of things that could've been, personified, given form for the sole purpose of destroying themselves and others with them.

I slammed the book shut. Stepping back in shock.

"What is this?" I gasped, ready to hurl another bout of fear-filled rage at the man who'd undoubtly caused all this.

"The Last Days. This is what that War created." He said, giving the tome a nasty stare "That is what I ended."

I understood "They- They made those?" The horrendous descriptions flashed in my mind, clashing with the beauty of the people I remembered. Clashing with me.

And him.

"Yes. And used them. Every single weapon of mass destruction was spent, so they made new ones." His pain was apparent. "The worst decisions were made, you must know, you followed the orders."

"I wasn't there." My speech faltered "Not for this." Not for that. Never for that. I would've died, several times. "I-I saw Tarali fall. Then…" I swallowed, not finishing my sentence.

"You saw the beginning, Illishai." He came closer. "This…" he gestured with contempt to the gilded volume "Is what came of it."

I was shocked. I didn't know what to do. I was stuck between a traitor and a murderer and the horrors my own people had created to destroy an enemy at the expense of Life itself. My ethics were screaming, both evils were on equal footing, one caused by the other. Stuck between murder and genocide. Stuck between corruption and immorality…

I didn't know who to follow.

I whimpered as I buried my face in my hands.

"Illishai?"

"What do I do?" I wailed "I don't know what to do! Someone give me orders." I needed to follow something, give me orders, don't make me decide, I couldn't. Tell me what to do! What to think!

He smiled sadly "How about we start over?" I looked at him, not understanding. He extended his hand "Hello, I'm the Doctor." My eyes widened at his name. Of all the people to survive…

"Hello Doctor, I'm Illishai." I shook his hand, still a bit dumbfounded. Of all people, the Doctor. Of course, it could only have been him.

No other Time Lord would've dared to have enough guts to stop a war, not the way he had. No other Time Lord would've gotten off his chair to do it.

Of course this one had never sat on a chair to start with.

He seemed to notice some of what was going on in my head "Come." I tilted his head towards the door. "There is something else." I followed him.

I watched him input a set of coordinates I didn't recognize: 73-1-38-13:12. I wondered where that was. He fined tuned the coordinates.

I watched him fly, as best he could on his own. I wanted to help but I wasn't of much use. Only ranked officers and Time Academy graduates got to fly. I was never taught.

We landed, he leaned on the console. "Go on." He indicated the doors.

I walked over to them, what was this place? Where had he taken us?

Curious and a little apprehensive I opened on of them.

And stared.

Stared at the people walking past me, flooding like a river on the busy strip of concrete.

And they looked exactly like me. Well not exactly, but there they were.

They weren't Gallifeyan. But so, so similar.

"Welcome to Sol 3." The Doctor had donned a long brown coat. "Also known as Earth."

I looked up at the sky, I stared into the expanse of blue watching white fluffy clouds go by half hidden by a tall building made of glass and steel.

I stepped out, looking around. I'd never been off world. I breathed in the air, saturated in pollutants; carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide,… a breeze blew past, bringing the sharp smell of ozone and humidity from a river.

The flood of people stopped, engines roared and purred. I watched as the explosive combustion engines drove the archaic transport down the road in a cloud of gas. I tried to make sense of the colourful signs that covered the walls around us to no avail.

"What do you think?" he asked, standing beside me as I watched everything unfold around me.

"It's beautiful…" I glanced to a line of people waiting on the other side of a set of white stripes painted on the ground. "But I don't understand… They're…" I struggled for words.

"They're human." He watched them cross the white stripes when a light showed a little green figure. He looked so proud of them, I wondered why. "And they're brilliant." They walked in front of us, walking around the box, around the two of us. "Absolutely brilliant."

"This has become my second home." He said "I can show you around if you want."

"I-" I hesitated. But the prospect of adventure was too great. I was this, travelling with him despite his actions, or wallowing in my own misery till the end of my days. I'd much rather this, maybe I could learn to accept him. "Yes." I blurted out. He beamed. "Yes." I repeated, the simple word heralding a new start into another life. This would be unlike anything I'd ever experienced, and I couldn't wait to start.


	11. What is Lost

The Doctor had originally planned to go straight to the shop and fine tune the thermostatic coupling he was holding. But that didn't exactly go as planned.

His route took him in front of the gym, a place he didn't use very often, in fact he'd forgotten it was there most of the time. He stopped at the door, it was slightly ajar and through the opening he could see Alisha.

Illishai. He must call her Illishai.

It was becoming easier and easier to not make the mistake. In the span of two Solar days, Illishai had already managed to erase most of the traits of her human self. For one she'd taken immediate offense to Alisha's generous curls, and had cut them to shoulder length. Two, she'd also spent most of her time getting back in shape. Her face had thinned out, revealing the soft bone structure with rounded cheekbone and an athletic build.

Alisha had been sweet, a good-natured scholar with a cup of warm cinnamon spiced apple juice in her hand… A little round around the edges, but brave and intelligent. Brilliant in a way he found only humans could be. He remembered that very first trip, the sabotage was obvious, he'd have gone on for ages, but she figured it out. Figured it out by assuming they were all innocent. Her logic was flawless, it was in none of their best interests to crash the ship, so it had to be outside. It had only taken her to assume innocence.

Illishai brought the bar down behind her head, lifting the thirty kilo weight along the shaft, she exhaled. The weight slid back down as she released the tension on her deltoids, it made contact with the remaining weights with a light clink. Another breath, the movement was repeated.

Illishai was strong. Not just physically, but mentally. He could see it in her eyes, a cold stare, calculating every movement, reading through everything, analysing the situation at all times. Illishai was a soldier, she'd been trained for war. And not just any war, the Time War, the war that ended everything… He fought back a tear. Her words had hurt him, which was exactly their intent.

"I assume it was for the good of the Universe? It was wasn't it? It's always for the good of the fucking Universe with you Timeys, every time."

I had been for the good of the Universe. What he supposed to do? Let Creation burn? Let his own people, let his own family, his friends, become monsters? Let them destroy every last inkling of beauty they had within themselves, for the sake of a war? He'd showed her what they'd made, once every weapon of mass destruction had been used and countered. She'd been appalled, he'd felt it, her complete and utter revulsion towards something so irrational, so unconscious of the effect it was having. Even she knew, even she felt it, how the very concepts could rip Time apart. Did she guess how he felt? She'd merely looked at the schematics, he'd been there, watched those horrors wreck the sky he used to gaze up at. She had basic awareness of the flux of Time, he could hear it, feel it coursing through his veins. And how it screamed those fateful days, the timelines warped and twisted and mangled into shapes they should never have taken. Worlds destroyed because the Continuum could not take the strain.

"What do I do? I don't know what to do! Someone give me orders." She'd wailed

Poor Illishai, a soldier without command. Lost and alone, not knowing what to think.

One would think he'd take her on, him the officer without a platoon…

Except he didn't want it. He'd never wanted it. It burned his soul every time she used his title, every time the words "My Lord" escaped her lips, every time she ended her sentence with "sir". He'd told her to stop, but she wouldn't. It was a reflex, trained into her like a dog to sit and roll over, when she looked at him she saw the officer, not him.

Illishai set down the weights on the pile at the base of the shaft, allowing the bar to pull her upright. She stood straight, very straight. It made him sore just to look at her. He'd gotten used to human companions and a Solar way of life, gotten used to their habits, their expectations. He'd worried when she hadn't eaten for these two days; that is before he realised he hadn't either.

The Doctor suspected this was what was going to take him the longest, not her name or her personality. But the fact she was Gallifreyan.

Oh how that sentence felt warm in his hearts. A sentence he'd thought he'd never think again.

But why did it have to come at the expense of a friend? Why did everything come at the expense of a friend?

He wondered whether this is what Nurse Redfern had felt when he'd replaced John. He hadn't really thought about it, it had been something of a crisis and honestly he hadn't expected his human counterpart to fall in love in such a short time… Just as he hadn't expected to come to like Alisha as much as he did.

He never expected to like anyone as much as he did. Yet when they left, as they all do, it left a hole in his soul. The wound would close over time, but it still hurt. And he missed them. He missed Alisha, he missed Rose, he missed Ace, he missed Peri, he missed Tegan, Sarah-Jane, Jo, Jamie, Vicki, and how could he ever forget Susan? So many people… Hell, he missed himself sometimes! All those people whose presence he missed and sometimes talked to, until he realised they weren't there. And now he had another name to add to the mental list he wished didn't exist. Under A, right with his two favourite teenagers, just under a mathematical genius whose star shaped badge he still had on that one shelf in the library dedicated to those who could never collect the things they left behind. He was glad at least all of them in that alphabetical category knew they were appreciated, and how much they meant to him…

Illishai moved over to a mat, he watched her set down and lower herself into a set of push ups. Her arms shook a little. She stared at her own faltering limbs, they weren't used to this kind of punishment. It'd take time, Alisha had been a scholar, Illishai was a fighter. Of course, there were probably similarities. Just like there had been between the Doctor and John. He just hadn't seen them yet.

He hadn't seen much to be honest. For all his knowledge of Time and Space, this one really got him by surprise. And that was rare.

He probably should've guessed though; it's not like the signs weren't there. The little moments she'd have after they came back from Rancash, the little snippets of time were she did something out of character and didn't know why. That was the key, her dextrocardia had been a giant red herring from the start, and he'd followed it right to the edge and beyond. He'd known she was hiding something, he'd thought she'd tell him in her own time… He'd thought the nightmare she'd told him about was the beginning. In a way it was.

It was the beginning of her death.

"I'll be fine. And so will you, I'm not going to leave you here. It's just I don't want you to get hurt. Now go!"

The last words he ever said to her. That she'd be fine, that he wouldn't leave her… He should stop making promises, bad things happened when he did.

And she'd been brilliant, even after he'd found himself unable to get her, she'd found him. Found her way right up to a moving spaceship from a starting point on a space station with no shuttle. He wondered how… He guessed he'd never know now. Unless Illishai felt like a nostalgia trip into a life that wasn't hers. Into the life of the person he'd let into his.

Or rather that had let herself in.

It made sense now, the TARDIS, in all her inscrutable wisdom, must've known and let her in. Finding her just standing there was something of a surprise. He'd been a little taken aback when she said the door had been open. He'd figured she looked harmless enough, and the fact she hadn't tried to kill when she saw him was a major selling point. And after that first adventure… How could he resist? She was intelligent, curious, had a sense of humour, and a little dash of mystery sprinkled on top… Perfect, too good to be true… that saying never felt so accurate.

Illishai rolled over onto her back to move into a set of sit-ups. The Doctor watched for a little while longer, then turned away. That coupling wasn't going to fix itself, especially not while sitting in his pocket.

"My Lord?" he winced at the title.

"Yes." She simply refused to call him by anything other than that or "sir", and it hurt.

"Did you want something?" a droplet of sweat glided down her forehead and came to rest on the arch of her eyebrow. She was leaning on the door frame, he could tell her body was exhausted. She'd never admit it though.

"No, carry on. I'll just be going." He turned away and walked, as confidently as he could, away. She seemed confused but disappeared back inside to finish her workout.

The Doctor turned the corner and immediately dropped his airs, settling back into the easy lope that was his normal gait. Illishai expected him to be every bit the Time Lord she thought he should be, which was, coincidentally, every bit the Time Lord he wasn't. To a human observer his gait was proud and confident; to a fellow Academy graduate, he was slouching. To a Watchman, to a junior officer, to someone who looked up to him and expected command, he had let himself go.

Rassilon expectations were exhausting.

Spying the door to the shop, he darted inside and, tired, he flopped onto the stool that sat amid the mess on the floor, a mess which had flowed from the workbench itself.

"To work." He thought, maybe, with a little bit of luck, he'd get distracted by some gadget or other just lying on the edge of his vision and start working on it again. Perhaps even the TARDIS would decide there was somewhere, somewhen he needed to be.

Anything to take his mind off Alisha of Boston and Illishai of Tarali.


	12. Money in Real Estate

I strode out into the main console room. The Doctor was waiting for me at the doors, slipping into his long tan coat. He looked me up and down, nodding with approval.

"Did I get it right this time?" I'd changed into something more in tune with the customs of Earth. So a pair of blue trousers, a white shirt and leather jacket that closely approximated the bright scarlet of my uniform.

"Yes you did." His eyes rested at my hip. "But you can't bring that."

"Why." My arm squeezed itself a little closer to the pistol that was dangling from the holster on my belt.

"For one that technology won't be around for another twenty centuries, and two…" he paused " And two it's a question of principle. We come in peace Illishai; if we get caught, having a weapon will not help our case."

"But if we do get caught it might come in handy."

"I've been caught plenty enough times to know, you don't need a gun to get yourself out."

"But, Doctor-"

"Don't argue with me Illishai. You're not taking the gun, that's an order." His tone hardened, I nodded

"Yes, sir." I unclasped the holster and went back to my quarters to put it away.

I wasn't comfortable going out into the world like that without a way to fight back. If we got caught… What if we did get caught? What was I supposed to do then? Talk? Talking never worked, it didn't work for Darju, why would it work for me?

I closed the box that now held my gun, the one I'd had at home normally sat in its box for all of four hours every month or so when the dire need to sleep made itself known. Sometimes not even that. This would be the longest it hadn't been on my person. It didn't feel right. But orders were orders, they had to be obeyed. I exited the room, feeling the lack of weight on my belt.

In the console room, the Doctor was still waiting. He seemed oblivious to my discomfort.

Bloody Time Lords, think words will do them any good in the field. Even him.

"Ready."

"Somewhat."

He cracked the door open a bit and paused, my curiosity overcame my anxiety as I spotted a sliver of blue through the doors, I leaned forward. He gave the door a push, and it swung open to reveal the city beyond it.

We were parked on the edge of some kind of green area and across the busy street were mismatched buildings, all in steel and concrete and stone and glass, but all different.

"This is New York. Second favorite city on the planet."

"A garden in a city?" I was puzzled, why would you put trees inside a city? I knew they didn't make use of micro-climate control but this was a tad too strange for me. "What for?"

"Walking, relaxing, oxygen,…" He trailed off, looking up at the green leaved trees "You name it, that's what it's there for."

"Defense?"

"Could be, if there's a solar storm, this is the safest place on the West Coast."

"Medicine?"

"Very therapeutic to be around nature after a hard day's work." I couldn't understand why, I'd never really left Tarali and to me "Nature" was something best left to Outsiders.

I stopped asking questions there, I suspected I'd never understand these humans. How could I possibly understand people that put trees inside cities?

"Come on." He beckoned me to follow him, he walked past a gate and to the edge of the street. The crowd make me nervous.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to push my fear into the background.

"I know I nice little café." I let my mind skip over the unfamiliar word, I knew he'd said it in another language. It was odd how he did that, all of a sudden. Sometimes it was entire sentences in that language that gave his voice that odd flat-ish accent. The TARDIS translated most of it for me, but apparently some words didn't exist, so they were left alone. But the accent still stayed, even through the translator, whenever he spoke it.

"If I remember well it's just around the corner." The single lights showed a green figure and we crossed, I stayed close to him. I didn't want to get lost.

He turned right straight after we'd reached the other side of the street. Then left around the corner.

"Ah, here we are." He headed towards a small shop with chairs scattered on the outside. I followed him, if a little gingerly. The people sitting at the chairs didn't look particularly hostile, but I still felt vulnerable.

He on the other hand seemed perfectly at home in this strange city. Not at all nervous or anxious like I was. I wouldn't be if there wasn't this gaping void at my hip, but orders were orders. He entered the building, I followed, mainly because I couldn't stand the stares from the people outside. Not that it was better inside, there were just as many people.

"Hello Doctor." Came a jovial male voice from the other side of a long thin table.

"Hello Markus." 'Markus' was a young chap, I'd have given him about 200 years, not much more. His name was short, I suspected that was more of a nickname, like I was Illishai.

"What can I get you?"

"Tea for me, and a latte for my friend here." He gestured towards me, I smiled politely as Markus looked to me.

"Tea and a latte. Coming up." He turned around, I stopped paying attention to what he was doing, preferring to check my surroundings. The space itself wasn't too big, a few padded benches were lined up facing each other against a wall, there were five tables scattered around the room each of them flanked with four chairs. The pictures on the walls were in black and white and in 2D. They showed the construction of a building.

"Come, sit." The Doctor took a seat on one of the benches.

"What are we doing here?"

"Having coffee, or at least you are."

"And what's that."

"You'll find out." He had this mischievous glint in his eye that I'm not sure I liked.

Within minutes Markus came back with a tray carrying two cups, one filled to the brim with a foamy beige liquid which he placed in front of me, and one with a translucent tinted liquid, which went to the Doctor.

"Thanks."

"Enjoy." Markus smiled and turned away.

I stared at the contents of my cup, not entirely sure what to do with it. Drink it I suppose, but how? I looked to the Doctor for aid, he smirked.

"Sir, this isn't funny, what am I to do with this?" That only made him start to chuckle, he hid his face behind his cup as he took a sip.

"You drink it Illishai."

"I'd figured that much out, sir."

"Well then? What are you waiting for? Try it."

I stared at my cup for more. The foam had started to fall, showing the true, slightly darker hue of the contents of the cup. I picked it up, it was warm. Steeling myself, I brought it to my lips and took a sip. The bitter taste of the liquid surprised me at first. I set the cup back down, analyzing what was currently travelling down my esophagus.

Caffeine, lots of it. Unsaturated fats, sugar,… I licked my lips, and concentrated plant oil. I couldn't tell which one, I didn't know it.

"Illishai, taste not analysis."

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes."

I tried again, pressured by his eager and amused gaze.

I tried, I really tried to stay on the surface, but I couldn't seem to ignore the fact that this stuff was essentially pure caffeine, sweetened with pure sugar. If I was ever low on energy, this was the stuff to take.

"So."

"I guess it's good. I'm having trouble ignoring the caffeine."

"Of course you would." His mental shields slipped a bit, letting his amusement show. He'd been better about it. I suspected this was on purpose.

The Doctor explained what exactly this drink was, and all the variations of it. Apparently this was a "latte" which involved the milk from an animal called a "cow". There was another variety, called an "espresso" which was a super-concentrated version of the original drink. Apparently most people drink it hot, although some like it cold with cubes of ice in it.

As far as I was concerned, the stuff was bean-water with too much caffeine. Not matter what you put in it, whether it was exotic animal products or solid water.

When we'd finished the contents of ours cups, the Doctor went over to the counter and slid a slip of paper on it. Markus took it.

"Keep the change." The Time Lord said, Markus looked grateful and smiled.

"Thank you , have a nice day."

We left the little shop.

"What was that?"

"What?"

"With the paper."

"Oh!" something dawned on him "Currency."

"A currency made of paper?"

"Don't ask, I don't understand it myself." I felt somewhat relieved that this part of human culture was as alien to him as it was to me. "I don't usually carry any around with me, but Markus is a friend."

"I assume that's not his full name?"

"No, it's Markus Gates." I was a little taken aback.

"That's it? It's a bit short no?"

"Well it's in two parts, one first name: In his case that's Markus. That name is what people use to refer to him. And a family name: Gates. That is given to all the members of a particular family."

"Doesn't that get confusing?"

"No. They're usually pretty good about picking pretty unique names for they're children." He sighed "Sometimes a little too unique…" By his face that was another story for another time.

"What if two have the same name?"

"Then you just remember who is who."

"But what about…" I felt my face get a little hot "You know…" I immediately regretted letting my curiosity get the better of my manners.

"Regeneration?" My temperature dropped to be replaced with surprise. Well he was forthcoming. My bad manners seemed to go completely unnoticed. "If that happened something would be terribly wrong."

"Why?" I felt myself blush again. I really was curious, and he didn't seem to be particularly squeamish about… The thing.

"They can't, they only have one life. Unique names aren't necessary then."

I dropped it. I wanted to know why, but my sensibilities were burning.

Suddenly he burst out laughing.

"What?"

"Sorry." He contained himself "I'm just not used to seeing someone blush, usually they're just confused." He chuckled at a memory. "Poor Rose, I did try to explain, not that I had much time or wits. For all I know I was speaking Dutch, oh that's a horrible thought."

I assumed "Dutch" was another language I didn't know, that apparently isn't pleasant to speak, or hear. But my mind was stuck on something else, something I wished we'd never gotten to.

"You… In front of…" I couldn't say it. I felt myself blush again.

"Well it was kind of hard to avoid. Most of the time it is." He looked to me, suddenly very serious "Try to be more careful then I am, I wouldn't recommend going through ten bodies in less than a millennia."

I nodded, mainly because I really, really wanted to discontinue the topic. I was done talking about this, it was making me even more uncomfortable than the fact I didn't have my gun with me.

"Anyway, where are we now?"

And he was off about the city, much better. I heard him talk about how it was designed and how methodical they were in planning the grid pattern. But I was distracted by a spot in the sky. Not quite flutterwing size, but fairly large.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"What's that?" I pointed.

"Probably an airplane, no worries it's a method of transport."

"No it isn't." I was worried now that I saw it tilt downwards

"What?" he seemed a little miffed, but conscious of my worry.

"That's not cruise altitude, it only a few hundred feet off the ground." He looked up

"You're right." The object was now engaging on a clear course for one of the buildings nearby, still heading downwards. I now had a fairly good approximation of the size of the thing.

Small enough to be blown to pieces by a 10 lev particle charge.

I brought hand to grab my gun, but fell through air. I panicked. The Doctor noticed.

"Easy Illishai, we're not going to shoot it." He reached into a pocket of his coat.

"But it's going to collide with that tower. A craft that size would explode on impact, sending debris over three hundred pace radius, not to mention if that building is inhabited."

"I know." He brought out a thin silver thing. I thought I recognized the shape, but the design was all wrong. "Watch."

He pointed the device at the craft, which was now on a clear collision course with that tower. The device whirred, the frequency changed several times, I watched nervously as the small bird shaped craft came closer and closer to the tower's windows.

Then suddenly it turned away, swooping vertically into the sky. It disappeared around the tower.

"See, no damage done."

"How did you do that."

"Sonic screwdriver" he held up the little silver device. "Very, very useful. Gotten me out of quite a few sticky spots."

"What now?"

"We check out what was going to hit that tower."

"But it's gone."

"No it isn't." he starting walking, at a proper speed this time, rather than a slow saunter "I sent an override virus and reprogrammed the destination coordinates. We'll find it in the park." He smiled at me "Another use for trees in a city, hiding things."

I couldn't argue with him there. Although why hiding things in a city was a good idea was beyond me. People lived in cities, warfare there would cause unnecessary casualties.

Of course that hadn't applied when…

I shook my head clear of the thoughts. Now was not the time.

We rejoined the park, there was no commotion on the street. Apparently no one had noticed or paid any attention to the large craft landing amongst the trees.

Unobservant race. Or naïve. Or both.

I corrected my judgment to mildly unobservant when I saw the crowd that encircle where the craft had most likely landed.

"Come on everyone disperse. Nothing to see here." The Doctor addressed them as he strode into the ring, waving his psychic paper around.

A few of the people actually left. A very small few.

"Why? So you can cover it up?" said one man of about 250. "I'm not going without answers."

The Doctor glanced at what the paper said. I made an effort to see it too. It showed a badge, from some organization called the CIA. I was pretty sure it wasn't the Celestial Intervention Agency; that was way beyond this planet.

"I'm not covering up anything." He said "But this is a very important piece of technology and very fragile. You'd best leave it in our care."

"Yeah right. What is it? A new drone? Going to start surveillance on the general population?"

"Sir, you'd best be going." I stated, staring straight into the man's eye. His mind was frightfully dull. And I could plainly see that it was clouded by fear.

"What are you doing?" He must've noticed what I was doing. The fear was now present in his voice.

"Me? Absolutely nothing. You are the one who is being paranoid." I lied, pushing my hypnosis further. "You heard my superior, you'd best leave this in our care. Now leave us and forget about this. Is that clear?"

"Clear." He squeaked. And turned around, he didn't quite run away, but was as close as it was going to get. "The same goes for the rest of you." I told the rest of the crowd. They dispersed.

I noticed the Doctor's gaze on my back.

"What?"

"That was not necessary, Illishai."

"It worked didn't it?"

"Yes…" he dropped it ignoring me and concentrating on the craft that had landed next to the path.

It was a sleek affair with a white hull and little retractable wheels and a camera at the front. I noticed it had small guns affixed to the front as well, concealed inside the casing.

The engineering wasn't too bad, a little primitive but not bad for what I'd seen of this planet. I crouched next to it on the opposite side the Doctor was on. I ran a finger on the craft, feeling the smoothed hull painted white. I traced the edge of the wing, it was a tad longer than my arm and had little propellers affixed to it. I made the one on my side spin a little with a push. I turned readily enough. It wasn't zero friction but good enough for decent flight.

He was upset.

"Shielding, Doctor." I reminded him, he reinforced his shields and his thoughts stopped leaking.

I watched him buzz away with the sonic screwdriver at what I assumed to be some sort of access panel. Soon enough he pulled a section of streamlined hull plating away and rummaged inside. He pulled out of few wires and started rummaging in his pockets. His pulled out a flat device and a wire with two fitted ends. He plugged one end of the wire into the device and started messing about between the other end and the other two wires he'd pulled out of the craft.

"What are you doing?" I asked out of curiosity. I knew I wasn't exactly in his good graces right now, but I couldn't stay out of them forever. Even my commander let me back in at some point, I didn't expect this Time Lord to be any different.

"Trying to hack into this thing's main data core." He stuck the newly welded bits of wire from the craft into the other end of the wire that was connected to the flat device.

"And what is that?" I gestured toward the flat device.

"A very useful thing called a smartphone. That guy in Silicon Valley may want it back actually…" he mused, I didn't know what a valley of silicon had to do with anything.

"And how will it help?"

"It's basically a computer in your pocket." He tapped the screen. Touch, I was mildly impressed, based on what I'd seen so far, I hadn't expected this planet to have developed 2D touch technology. "Now be quiet I need to concentrate."

I stayed quiet, I knew a direct order when I saw one. And that more than obvious.

I looked around the park, I hadn't really taken in my surroundings the first. Rookie mistake really, I was secretly glad nothing had come of it. The trees were about thirty feet tall and had green leaves. Green, what a novel concept. I definitely fit with the blue sky. I'd have to get used to this. Blue, with one sun, rather small sun actually. That or it was very far away. I'd have to look it up. I looked down at the grass, as green as the leaves on the trees, perhaps a little lighter. I spotted a small white flower. I leaned over to it, caressing the delicate white petal with my index finger. The gossamer-thin petal bent under the weight. I poked the bright yellow center, it was a little fuzzy and soft. I pulled the flower out of the grass, not enough the break the stem, but enough to be able to see the entire thing. It was tiny, it reminded me of the daisies back on Gallifrey, except this one was considerably smaller.

"Having fun there Illishai?"

I snapped back to attention, getting to my feet in less than a heartbeat.

"I found the source." He waved the little pad, the screen showed lines of code and a small keyboard. "We can track it. Let's get moving."

I moved behind him. "What about the craft."

"Sent an e-mail to my friend Geoff at the NSA." He said I again ignored the unfamiliar words. "He'll come pick it up soon enough."

I nodded, he glanced to the spot where I'd been. And smiled "And that is a daisy by the way."

"Really, they have them here too?"

"Yep." He popped the 'p'.

I let a light chuckle escape. I looked back towards the tiny flower, feeling more than a little nostalgic.

From the emotional leak I was getting from the Doctor, he was feeling it too.

"Anyway. This situation won't solve itself." He turned around briskly, making his long coat fly outwards, amplifying the motion. I suspected he did that on purpose. Vain old Time Lord he was, very vain.

He held the "smartphone" ahead on him as he walked, upon closer inspection in showed a map, he was dragging the view with his finger as we moved along.

"Can't be far now." He said, pointing to a little pin thing dotted on the virtual map.

We turned a few more corners and finally he stopped. I had to admit it was a lot of walking, I wasn't tired, nowhere near tired, but it was tedious and felt like we were going around in circles. To me all these streets looked the same. Noisy and clouded with carbon monoxide that made it hard to breathe.

For a civilization that didn't make use of micro-climate control, they certainly needed it. That or better transport. Desperately.

"Here we are." The Doctor chimed.

We stood in front of a large double doored entrance. It was very ostentatious: glass doors, steel rimmed. A shiny black-veined white stone lined the floor inside. And the walls. And the desk. He pushed open one of the doors. It looked heavy, I caught it on the rebound. It wasn't. Couldn't be more than twenty kilos.

It was cold inside. Even for me it was a little chilly.

"Boy they really turned the air-con up in here didn't they?" the Doctor mused, he pretended to shiver. I guessed it was a reflex he'd put there for some reason. Probably to pass as human for whatever reason.

I stared at the linear symbols of carved metal that were affixed to the wall behind the counter. I stared at it some more. Then they changed.

"Eveson Real Estate." I read "What does that mean?"

"Eveson is someone's name I guess and real estate…" He paused to think "It's a business. I'll give you a data pack to read."

I took him up on his offer and set a reminder to myself to remind him later.

He walked up to the desk, and showed the psychic paper to the woman sitting there. She squinted at it, pulled onto a pair of glasses. Her eyes widened

"I'm here to see Mr. Eveson. Do you know where I could find him?" he asked. I stood behind him, not saying anything. I wasn't about to repeat my earlier mistake. If he wanted to do things on his own with inefficient non-psychic persuasion so be it.

"Top floor, I'll let you in." the woman stepped out from behind her desk, rifling through a set of keys. She led us towards a set of doors and pressed a button. She settled on a small silver key. The doors open with a ding, revealing the small wood paneled space inside.

I didn't like it. At all.

It was small, and only had one set of doors. Which would probably be closed for the better part of the journey upwards.

"Come on Illishai. It's not so bad." The Doctor whispered as he stepped inside the box.

I didn't like it. The woman stepped in. They looked at me expectantly.

I took a step forward into the box. The three of us crammed in there was very claustrophobic.

I didn't like it. I found my hand wandering to my hip. But the comfort I could've sought there had been left on the TARDIS. My breathing became shallow, I tried to control it. I wasn't going to have a breakdown because of a box.

The woman pressed a button, the box lurched upwards, I felt gravity shift. We were going up, by the speed and smoothness, or lack of. By use of a cable and a weight moving down as we were going up.

This was not safe. Not safe at all. How I wished this was a magnetic propulsion elevator. That was much safer and smoother.

I wanted to get out. I needed to get out.

But I couldn't. There was one door, and that door was all that was separating me from the rapidly moving wall. A very thin steel door, which would be torn to shreds by a simple atom ram.

A bell chimed, the door opened. I leaped out, doing my best to control my breathing.

"Claustrophobia. Hits her sometimes." I heard the Doctor say under his breath to the woman, who was giving me a curious look. "She's great in the field, but not in an office. Hence why she's out here."

The woman seemed to accept that information and moved on.

"I'll tell Mr. Eveson you're here, if you would please wait a moment." She walked to another pair of door that seemed to echo the ones downstairs, this time with frosted glass and a little less height.

"Thank you." The Doctor nodded to the woman.

"Pleasure, sir." She slipped past the doors. The doors closed, she disappeared from view.

"Claustrophobia? Really?" I complained

"Don't think about it, it worked." The glint in his eye said otherwise.

"I am not claustrophobic."

"Sure you aren't."

I growled my frustration, he chuckled. He sobered "I have a bad feeling about what this Mr. Eveson is going to tell us." He said changing the subject.

I had to agree with him.

One of the double doors swung open. And a tall man of about 300 stepped out, his blond hair was neatly cut and his suit finely tailored. It was clear he was of higher status and his mannerisms just dripped with arrogance and superiority.

"I had heard I was going to have a visit." Mr. Eve son sat at the glass-topped table that sat in the room, positively brimming with cheer. Most of it fake. "Sit, sit! I'll be more than happy to tell you whatever you need to know."

Dangerous assertion. The look the Doctor gave me told me he concurred.

"So, what can I tell you?" he said, readjusting his position on his large leather backed chair. "It's not every day you get a visit from the FBI. I can assure you all my transactions are perfectly legal."

"Oh, we're not here about you're transactions Mr. Eveson." The Doctor started rummaging in his pocket. He pulled out the slim device from earlier. "We're here about this." He held out the device, screen forward, leaning on the table so as to get in closer to Eveson's face.

"I do not recognize it. What is it?" Eveson asked, he was lying. That was very obvious. Telepathy or no.

"It is a drone Mr Eveson." The Doctor said, slightly insulting the man with his tone "Fitted with weapons, whose commands we have traced back to this office." The last was stated bluntly.

"Well it couldn't've been me. What use would I have for a drone?" he laughed. That laugh made me want to silence him. It was sugary, too loud, too hearty, and laced with bad intention.

Silence on the Doctor's part, he stared at Eveson, Eveson stared back. There was no mind-to-mind play going on, just plain non-telepathic persuasion and pressure.

Finally the Doctor spoke.

"You are in real estate aren't you Mr. Eveson?"

"Yes I am." The smile had not left Eveson's face, or faltered. The bright grin still split his face from ear to ear.

"And you are doing very well." The Doctor looked around

"If I do say so myself." Eveson's smile and arrogance was momentarily replaced by a flash of humility and pride.

"You must've made a few enemies." The Doctor had sauntered to the side of the desk and was now looking at Eveson from the side.

Eveson said nothing, sizing up the Doctor. "A few, yes." I was greatly relieved when the saccharine smile slowly faded.

But the look that replaced wasn't much better. It was dangerous, calculating and cold. Eveson's blue eyes glinted like ice under the fluorescent lights, his lips tightly pressed together.

This man was smart, and very good at what he did. But what he did was not innocent.

"Care to tell us about them?" The Doctor spoke, reciprocating the intense atmosphere. They were like two cats, glaring at each other. Except Eveson was the only one fighting for territory.

I stood there, watching, should it come to a fight I'd be there. I'd have my Lord's back. I stood watch as I always had.

"I think you should leave." Eveson didn't answer the question. His tone was firm, this was almost an order.

I caught a silent curse from the Doctor.

Shielding, my Lord.

He apologized.

"Don't think this is over Mr. Eveson." The Doctor was warning Eveson. He knew what he was doing and the second he had proof he was going to bring him down. I couldn't help but feel at little excitement at the prospect. I found myself giving Eveson a predatory smile.

"Illishai." He called as he started down the door. I gave the man one last glare and turned away to follow the Time Lord.

I didn't even flinch when we entered the elevator cabin again. Nor during the way down.

We exited the building I felt the secretary's gaze on us, but the Doctor didn't turn around, so neither did I.

We passed under the fans blasting icy air into the building again then we were outside.

The Doctor seemed to relax a little out here in the considerably warmer air.

"So we bring him down?" I asked, meaning to sound calm but I couldn't help the smidgen of eagerness that betrayed itself in my voice.

"Eventually." His tone was still dark. "But first we need proof. So…" he looked to me "We investigate." He smiled, a manic grin whose insanity was hidden under cheer and good intentions.

I mirrored his smile.

I was starting to like him.

Maybe not all Time Lords were as useless as I'd thought.

We made our way back to the TARDIS, I watched him as he flung his coat over a support beam with practiced ease, walk toward the console and pulled over the monitor.

"What do we do now?" I asked, wondering what he was up to.

"We have his IP address and the broadcast frequency for the drones he's using." He typed frantically on the keyboard. "All we need to do, is catch the signal as he sends it and follow it."

"From here?"

"Nope!" he pressed a final key with a flourish. "From here." He brandished the flat device again, producing it from one of his many pockets. He graced me with another manic grin, which I could again not help answering.

Rassilon he was contagious.

He dashed off into his… Whatever he was doing. I felt a surge of excitement. He was readying the hunt.

I took the opportunity to slip off into the corridors. He was distracted, and I wasn't going to miss out on any of this by being uncomfortable.

I walked to my room, and threw open the box. I picked up the gun, but I didn't take the hip holster. I placed the firearm back in the case and headed to the closet while shrugging off my jacket. I pulled out the other holster and secured the straps around me.

I finally felt like myself again when I slid the gun into the leather pouch at my side and covered the ensemble with my jacket.

I slipped back into the console room. The Doctor was still typing away on the keyboard, alternating his gaze between the monitor screen and that of the little device.

"Where did you go?" he asked, my heart sank a little that he'd noticed.

"Just went to check something. No harm done." I answered, it was a bit of gamble. Sometimes the sups fell for it, or didn't care, sometimes they found it suspicious. The Doctor… Well he evidently saw something was up, the glance he shot me scanned me up and down, but he didn't press further.

I filed him under: "Doesn't care."

"Anyway. I tracked another signal, Eveson's sent out another one." He started to move towards the door "We should be able to get to it in time to see what he meant to do with the first one."

I didn't know if he knew what Eveson had meant with the first one, but I did.

"You don't know what he wanted with the first one?"

"I have an idea, but we need proof. And a witness is very good proof, but what's even better." He leaned towards me "Is hard evidence." He waved the little device in front of my face again. I backed away from it, inconvenienced.

"Right." The justice system on this planet was a little overcomplicated for my taste. What was all this with hard evidence? Yet again, that probably stemmed from not having a Matrix to access. At least I assumed they didn't have one. They really didn't strike me as the type. Not that this species struck me as much of the type for anything.

We set out. And it turned out that we'd both been right.

We hadn't walked a hundred paces when we heard explosions and screams.

We were at the scene in moments. I took in the situation. Bits of glass were scattered everywhere on the street, pieces of concrete had fallen onto cars and sidewalk alike. One of the buildings was in pretty bad shape, a piece of the corner had been the source of the debris. People were still running about, most of them semi-coherent in their escape route.

I spotted the cause, still flying overhead, guns out, wheeling about for another pass. I noticed the Doctor squinting to read a small sign above the door of the unfortunate building.

I squeezed my arm against the pistol. It was there, my aim was taken, I could bring the bird down with a single shot.

"My Lord." I begged his audience. "What now?"

"Bring it down Illishai, bring it down." He sighed.

I reached inside my jacket and followed my aim. The charge hit the drone full blast. It splintered instantly, the burning pieces raining down on the street already littered with small fires.

"Good job." He looked at me, I met his gaze somewhat puzzled "Of course I knew you had it. 'Checking something' really? Does that usually work?"

"Sometimes."

He nodded and turned his gaze skywards. We both noted the rapidly growing point in the distance.

That was backup, Eveson had sent back up.

As soon as it was in range, it started firing. By now, only us and a few other brave pedestrians were foolish enough to have stayed in the vicinity.

The Doctor had picked up his little device and was pointing what I assumed to be a camera at the wheeling drone.

Thirty seconds.

"Illishai. Distract it, but don't destroy it."

"How do I distract machinery?" I was puzzled, by all rights, the primitive technology on the craft wasn't going to be impressed by my flash charges or heat decoys.

"You've got ion-flares on that thing don't you?" he asked seemingly checking the model

"Yes."

"Well use them!" he urged "Also the heat decoys might work, give them a try."

"Where are you going?" I called as he started to run off.

"Eveson!" he answered, and was gone.

I switched the setting on my gun and fired. The flare exploded into tendrils of ionized air in front of the craft, it wheeled away from the bright flashes, and consequently, away from the building.

It circled for a moment, then re-established its heading.

I fired two more shots that crackled on either side of the hull, one of the bright blue tendrils brushed against the hull, the heat leaving a fuzzy black mark on the paint.

I'd been told to distract it and distract it I will, I was glad I had a full charge, but even that wouldn't last forever.

The Doctor raced along the busy streets of New York, following the path they'd taken earlier to Eveson's firm.

He'd had a bad feeling about Eveson from the start, and meeting him had only exacerbated that feeling.

He spotted the enormous double doors that marked the entrance to the building.

It was very ostentatious… He wasn't sure he liked it.

He flung the door open, possibly with a bit too much force. He walked under the fans, he didn't bother faking the shiver this time. Sometimes passing as human was useful in getting information.

Right now it wasn't.

He marched up past the secretary desk, she stared at him bewildered. He shot her a glance that, he hoped, said miles on the current situation.

Whether she understood or not, she stayed seated. And puzzled.

He'd explain if she asked later.

The elevator was already there. He stepped inside and pressed the button to close the doors, once they closed off the view, he pulled out his screwdriver and tripped the locking mechanism for the top floor.

The elevator jerked upwards. He shifted uncomfortably.

He could partly understand Illishai in her discomfort, these things did take some getting used to.

The needle kept rising through the numbers, 10, 11, 12, 14…

Last floor, it dinged, he strode out. One of the doors to the office was open.

"I thought you'd come back." He heard Eveson's syrupy voice escaping from around the frosted door. "They did warn me about you."

The Doctor stormed into the office, bearing every inch of his power in his gaze, and was unnerved when Eveson merely smiled that saccharine smile of his.

"I prepared a little treat for you." He held up two small metal loops and placed them behind his ears "Now… What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

I kept the bird distracted, the ion-flares needed a cool down but the heat decoy did just as well.

The drone's white hull was streaked with black and grey from its constant passes at my barrage of ionized air. And now my periodic pulses of hot air.

It wheeled about trying to aim for the building behind me.

The area had cleared, there were blue and white vehicles stationed around the area, as well as a few black ones. In the corner of my eye I saw someone in what looked like a uniform chatting with a man in a black suit and another man in uniform. I fired shot and glanced over to the trio.

One man in green, the woman in black and the other man in blue.

If this place had that many authorities of course there was going to be trouble making decisions. And I could use a little help.

But they were keeping the area safe, and that was help enough right now.

"What are you going to do? Level half the city?" the Doctor roared

"If I have to." Eveson, Miles as he'd asked to be called "Anything to get Lion to crumble. And they did promise me the best toys if I did. Plus I get all the profit."

"Whose 'they'?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." Miles snickered "Not yet they told me, they want you to figure it out on your own."

"Listen, I don't know what they've told you, or promised you. But I can tell you it's not worth all those lives out there."

"And how do you know that?" Eveson leaned back in his chair "They hadn't promised me this." He gestured around his office "Yet I got it. Doctor…" he leaned forward "I'm making millions." He half-whispered

"And is currency really worth thousands of lives?"

"It's not like they're paying their dollars to me. What use are they to me then?" he shrugged "They told me to take down Lion R.E. So I am."

"Why Lion?"

"How am I to know? Ask my contact." He paused. "Where's your partner? I hope she's not outside…"

I was getting tired, properly tired, and my charge was steadily decreasing.

And the Doctor was showing no signs of coming back.

Suddenly there was a loud crash. Instinctively I fired a flare to keep the drone busy while I looked.

And I almost forgot to fire a second shot.

In distance loomed the hulking figure of a robot. Not a small helpful one. No, this was a giant made of metal. This thing was designed for war, planetary war. It made this little drone look like an insect.

I had bigger things to worry about.

The burning remains of the drone showered the floor behind me as I strode toward the blue painted wooden barrier separating me from the crowd.

"Excuse me." I demanded from the trio that had been talking and now were staring at me "Is that thing normal for this area?" better ask, you never know.

"I'm sorry miss-" started the man in blue

"Is it normal?" I repeated

"Well no…" said the woman in black "But you see-"

"Have you ever seen it before?"

"No, ma'am." answered the man in green, he was more responsive and straight forward. I liked him. I checked his badge, it read UNIT.

"Thank you." I nodded. And started hurdling the barrier.

"Who are you?" Asked the woman in black

"None of your concern. Get everyone off the street. This might get ugly." I answered before disappearing in the crowd.

They didn't do much, a few flashed of light blinded me from one side or the other. But mainly they let me pass.

I heard call and whistles. They were clearing the area. Good.

As I got closer to the moving mass of mechanized metal, the ground started to shake with increasing vigor.

I turned into another street.

I wasn't going for the mech. Those things didn't have pilots. They had commanders, sitting in booths with either joysticks or telepathic relays.

Either way the treatment was the same: take out the operator before the bot can do any more damage.

I heard it come crashing after me. More damage was happening now.

Time to put a rush on this plan of mine.

"You did not…"

"I did." The Doctor wanted nothing more than to wipe that grin off Eveson face with a well-placed right hook. But unfortunately he needed to be able to talk to the man. "One of the 'testers', shall we say, of what they'll get me to lay with if I do this for them."

"You'll destroy the whole city just to make money." The flare of anger was smothered by pity, pity for this man who'd lost his humanity for something that, in the long run, didn't matter. Loud rhythmic crashed rose up from the city below.

"Not the whole city… Just all the buildings that aren't mine." He got up and walked to the window. "Imagine the prices for all that land, without a single building on them, they'll be up for peanuts!"

"People could die." The Doctor's tone was dark, he couldn't stand this man any more "You have to stop this."

"No I don't." Miles shook his head. "With this…" he tapped the loop behind his ear "No one is going to touch me."

"Oh really?" He just had an idea. He wasn't sure if it'd work, telepathic circuits were tricky things… but maybe, just maybe. "Someone will try you know. Someone always tries." He just needed him to keep talking.

"I don't think so, Doctor." Eveson spat out his name like it was an insult "What kind of name is that anyway? Do you have something to hide?"

"Perhaps." He hung his hands from his lapels, oh it'd been a while since he stood like this. But now was not the time for sentiment.

"I wonder what it is… What would make a man as bent on morality as you decide to hide behind an alias..." Eveson walked towards him, scrutinizing every inch of his figure. "It must've been terrible."

"Maybe it was." The humour of this was that, at first, it really wasn't. Now it meant something, but at the very beginning? Not so much. He crossed his arms, surreptitiously taking his screwdriver with him.

"But whatever it was, you're a lot better at hiding it than this." Eveson came up behind him and plucked the sonic from his concealed grasp.

There went that particular plan. Now what?

Miles Eveson examined the little tool "I don't know what this is… But chances are, whatever you were going to use it for, you're not doing it anymore."

I ran into the building, flinging both doors wide open as I entered. There was no one in the lobby. I checked the security desk

"Stairs?" I demanded from the terrified clerk covering under his desk. He pointed toward the back "Thank you."

"Now, where were we?" he placed the silver device in his pocket. "Ah yes. Me making millions and you giving me a lesson in business ethics." He smiled the billion dollar smile that was supposed to be synonymous with charm. "Would you like to continue?"

"Eveson, this isn't right. Those are your own people!" The Doctor hoped to appeal to whatever was left of this man's empathy.

"My own people!" he scoffed "My people indeed!" he slid to the window "I rule over every single one of them, I own their homes and they pay me to live there. I am King!" he spread his arms as he looked over the city "I will rebuild it, rebuilt New York to my design, every building with my name on it. Then, fancy toys or not, I will rule and no one, I say no one, will-"

He heard the shot resound through the relatively bare room. Eveson's body crumpled to the floor, a neat red circle painted red on his forehead where the charge passed through. The wound started to leak blood into his eye and down his cheek, it looked like he was crying.

The loud crashing outside ceased, in a moment they'd hear a louder crash.

He heard it.

"It was on a street, they evacuated. No one should've been hurt." Alisha's voice. Illishai's voice.

He looked at her, she was holstering her gun, he short hair was covered in dust and was soaked trough with sweat.

He had no words.

"It was the best tactical move. If I'd tried to go after the bot, it would've levelled the city before I stopped it." She was right, he hated it but she was right.

The Doctor looked back to Eveson's body, his suit still impeccable except for the red stain blooming on his collar. He stepped over and closed his eyes.

He was in shock, not that Eveson had been shot, that, frankly, wasn't much of a loss. But that he'd been shot… By Illishai, Alisha, his friend.

How had she come to this?

"Sir we need to go before they start asking questions." He heard her say "My Lord." She added "Doctor." She said harshly, he looked up "We need to go. Now." She inched towards the door.

Slowly he got up and made his way to the elevator. Then stopped.

"Stairs?"

She nodded "This way." She started in another direction.

He watched her from the back. From here he could not see her face, and frankly, he liked it better that way. Whenever she looked at him, he saw Alisha, behind the hard, alert look, he saw the compassion that they had held.

Or was it just an illusion. He suspected it was.

From his current perspective, this wasn't Alisha, that much was clear, his figure was different, her gait was different, her hair was cut differently.

"My Lord?" she asked turning around. He was met with his friend's face.

"Lead the way Lieutenant." He said, hiding behind the formality.

He'd get used to it.

He had to.


	13. Church Choirs

"This is actually not bad." I stated after swallowing the mouthful I'd just taken.

"I told you." The Doctor said, sipping his cup of tea.

I worked another piece of meat free from the large piece on the cardboard plate. "The temperature is actually decent for once." I looked up at the grey sky, two twin black spires shot up into the clouds from the cathedral next to us. We'd travelled for few more days, I'd learned quite a lot about this little blue planet in the middle of nowhere. It was quite a find, I enjoyed how exotically beautiful it was.

"That's why I like this place." The Doctor nodded, following my gaze to the spires.

"What's it called again?"

"Prague." He looked around the place we were standing in. "Beautiful city."

I observed the people and looked around at the surrounding buildings. "I must agree." I said, looking at a painted wall "It's very creative."

"We should go to a concert." He mused, I stared at him blankly "Music." He said

"I know what a concert is, my lord." I grumbled, insulted "My question is, sir, what they play at these concerts."

"Well, if I told you that'd just spoil the fun wouldn't it?" he grinned cheekily. "Come, let's get some tickets."

I picked up my plate, now mostly empty except for one sliver of meat, which promptly disappeared. The disposable cutlery and plate then took a dive into the nearest bin.

I rather liked this country, it wasn't too hot, and the architecture was simply amazing, the Doctor described it as "baroque" and "gothic", although he'd pointed to one building and described it as "wedding cake architecture". I hadn't asked what he'd meant by a wedding cake, marriage and cakes didn't go together in my mind. I particularly liked the river, the great white birds that glided along the water had impressed me with their grace. I chuckled as I remembered seeing them on land, waddling along looking like they were in a temper.

"Oh how very much like a Time Lord." I'd laughed as one had sulked and glared "Graceful and majestic until you get them out of their element, then as ill-tempered as the President's cat."

The Doctor hadn't been amused. I found it hilarious, as well as payback for when he'd laughed at my admittedly pitiful attempt at English.

But it was awe inspiring to see the city on the opposite bank, the cathedral perched on the hill, the swans swooping in to land on the river, the houses, each a different color, scattered along the streets in haphazard order. The variety was baffling, Tarali's buildings had all been the same, but this entire planet made an effort for variety, every single country we'd visited, not one was the same as the next. The people, the language, the food, the houses, even the sky was different! It was stupendous.

I'd read in the history pack that that variety had caused and was causing no few problems… Thankfully I hadn't run into any, but it did sadden me that the inhabitants of this pretty little planet didn't get along.

"Ah here we go." The Doctor stopped in front of a colorful, poster covered wall. "So, one for tonight." He pulled his glasses out and scanned the linear writing. I managed to read a few of the words before they shifted, I'd started learning to read the language, although it was still very much easier to let the TARDIS translate for me. "Ah here we go." He put his finger on the mention of a date. "Vivaldi's Four Seasons! Oh you'll like that one. Mozart… Bach…" he nodded "What do you think?"

"I don't know any of those names, sir." I reminded him.

"Figured not."

I sighed and followed him as he dashed towards a store that doubled as a ticket office. Minute later we stepped out, me holding the thin slips of paper that were our entry vouchers.

"You don't usually go through all this trouble…" I pointed out, the last few times we went to an event, we kind of just showed up, using the psychic paper as our entry pass.

"Authentic experience Illishai!" he enthused "Plus I owe the community a favor." He said soberly.

"Ah!" I stated, somewhat understanding. It seemed that wherever we went, either he owed someone a favor, or someone owed him one. It made me wonder just how much he'd rattled about the Universe until now.

We walked around the city some more as we search for the particular building the concert was to be held. He called it a "church", I had absolutely no idea what that meant.

We ended up in a winding cobbled street when the Doctor stopped in front of a small wooden door.

"Here we are." He read the small sign above it, "Admittedly this is not what I expected."

"What did you expect?"

"Something a bit larger for one." He moved to open the door "Maybe it's larger than we think."

The door opened with an ear-splitting shriek, I rubbed my temple and stepped in after the Doctor into the narrow space beyond.

"Now be quiet, humans take their worship very seriously." He advised and opened another door, this one opened smoothly.

I looked up at the column that adorned the space. It was in fact larger than I would have thought based on the door alone. But not impossibly large, that was clearly beyond any technology these people had.

But dear Rassilon this place was beautiful. Thick column of veined green and pink stone supported a painted ceiling, a long corridor stretched out, flanked by ornate wooden benches culminating at an altar draped with embroidered cloth and backed by an exquisite painting set in a gilded frame that covered the entire back wall. The frame itself was topped with detailed figures of angels holding up, or looking up at, the symbol of an eye inside a triangle. Golden rays radiated from the eye like some child's drawing of a sun.

I let my eyes wander to the other statues, all life sized and highly detailed. Small wooden chambers, coming by twos, were topped by small wooden angels seated atop their roofs. Statues of the same angels with spread wings seemingly held up the ceiling from the columns.

"This place is beautiful." I breathed, taking in the sight. My eyes passed from one statue to another, to a painting, to an intricate piece of carving on a bench.

The Doctor led me around the place, explaining the cruciform disposition, the meaning of the pictures. I drank in the history, the stories. He explained "religion" and "Christianity". I begged him for more, but he said it was already a much debated topic for even the inhabitants of the planet and that he didn't have a clear idea of exactly what it meant to them.

Also that it'd take several hours to go through every single religion on the planet.

I whined but he was final, I'd be getting nothing more, lest he stray into pure subjective opinion.

So I contented myself with the beauty of the structure.

"Here, sit." I turned around to face the Doctor, who had already seated himself on one of the benches. "They're going to start soon."

I sat down next to him, the wood creaked under my weight. And he had said, within a minute a man came up to the front of the aisle and introduced himself and his colleagues. Following his short speech, they began.

In my mind, the concert ended too soon. The music was the most intriguing amalgamation of sounds I had ever heard. The notes resonated with each other in harmony, flowing together, forming pictures made of sound. It was beautiful, and I had to say I enjoyed it.

After each piece, the assembly had begun clapping their hands, I'd cast the Doctor a curious look.

"It's a form of praise, just follow along." He'd said.

By the end of the concert, I was clapping quite fervently. Shortly afterwards the attendees were slowly leaving the space of the church, the musicians we packing their instruments and preparing to exit themselves.

I started to get up but a strong grip restrained me.

"Sir?" I asked, bewildered as I lowered myself onto the seat again.

The Doctor didn't say anything but stared very intently at a statue of an angel, one arm draped over its eyes, reaching out to some vague point above it with an outstretched hand. I stared at it as well, and now that I paid closer attention to it, there was definitely something wrong with it. The stone looked like stone, and it did not move, but somehow. It was wrong.

His eyes flickered from one statue to another, scanning them. I followed his purposeful stare around the room. My own eyes rested on another statue, this one crouched and seemingly holding a hand out to some passer-by, ready to lift them into the sky.

This one also felt wrong.

I looked from one to the other, a growing suspicion bubbling in my gut.

"Sir, please… Do not tell me those are what I think they are." He was staring at the standing angel, I the crouching one.

"I'm afraid they are Illishai." He did not break his gaze to look at me. Thankfully. "They're Weeping Angels."

"Can we get out of here?" The stories of my childhood charged my psyche _en masse_. I did not want to stay here, not here with not only one, but two Lonely Assassins.

"No."

"Why?"

"Look around you."

I hesitated but dared to glance to the rest of the church. A few people were scattered about. A pair with cameras, an older man, and a woman with a young boy.

"We can't leave them here. Not with Angels around."

I was about to respond with some witty remark about self-preservation when the lights went out with a loud clunk.

I heard a yelp of surprise from the boy and various guttural expressions of puzzlement from the other attendee of the building.

"Okay that changes things." I heard the Doctor say next to me.

My eyes had adjusted to the dark, and I could plainly see that the Angels had shifted, ever so little, so eye their prospective prey. I blinked, the one that had crouched stood on the floor, off its pedestal.

"There's a chapel, get everyone in there."

The Doctor dashed off one way after the pair with the cameras, I went to the woman and the boy.

"This way." I said, not caring whether I was doing half the mental work for them. As long as they followed. "Sir." I called to the older man, stretching my own influence so he'd follow as well. I continued going, with my little herd in front of me.

Now was not the time for ethical discussions, not when there were Angels about. I spotted the Doctor's silhouette further along, he entered a room through a door at the back of the building near the altar.

I heard a few rustles of cloth and grinds of stone on stone. We had to hurry. I turned around and froze an Angel in its tracks as it rounded the corner towards us.

He told me he had his eyes on it, and that I was to keep going.

I thanked him and ushered my little group into the small room beyond the door. The door slammed shut behind me, and was quickly followed by a noisy impact on the other side.

I looked around the room, it was small, enough for a single row of two benches and a narrow space in front that held and alcove with a statue of a woman holding a baby.

A flame was lit and the space was dimly illuminated.

I could see a few paintings on the wall, but no windows.

"What's going on?" a new voice asked, I turned my head to look at the speaker; a young woman, around my age, her head twisted around to look at us, there was an open computer on her lap.

The Doctor was fighting to close the latch on the door while the Angels beat loudly against it. I joined him and with much effort, the bolt slid through.

I thought he'd start explaining the situation to the woman, but instead he turned to me.

"Illishai, what did I say about psychic persuasion?" he was not speaking English, he had been before. He didn't want to be heard, or at least understood.

"You…" I was taken aback "You told me not to do it, sir." I let my gaze fall to the floor.

"And what do you go and do?" he continued, "You disobey a direct order, I mean for Rassilon's sake, this is not what we are trying to achieve here!" He said over the regular impacts on the door.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't do it again." He said firmly, I kept my gaze on the floor, while he turned to the group.

I heard him explain things as best he could to the human group, he simplified the issue a lot. Most of them stared in disbelief but put two and two together when they heard another impact of the heavy wooden door. The young boy pressed himself closer to his mother, who held him tighter.

Except for one.

"Poppycock." the man with the camera said, "Are you all just going to stand around and let some lunatic spout off some nonsense and believe him?" he addressed the small assembly, his partner put her hand on his shoulder, he shrugged her off, "I don't understand the reasons behind this charade, but I'm not taking part in this." He went to the door.

"I wouldn't do that." The Doctor warned and moved to stop him.

But the man had unlatched the door, not even a second later, a stony hand shot through the opening and the man vanished with a shriek cut short.

Everyone stared in shock, the Doctor and I both threw ourselves against the door to close it. I breathed a sigh of relief when it was latched again.

"Does anyone else have any questions?" the Doctor asked, I could feel the edges of his stress leaking through his shields.

"What happened to him?" The woman asked in a timid voice, even in the gloom of the candle light I could see her eyes were wide with shock and misted over.

"He got sent back in Time." The Doctor told her.

"What?" He stepped forwards towards her.

"That's what Angels do." He explained, "They hunt and send their prey back in Time to feed off the aborted timeline." He touched a hand to her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

I watched the scene unfold, the emotion was practically drowning me, I could feel the woman's sadness just radiating from her mind, and all the others responding to it, amplifying it with empathy. The older man sat down on one of the pews, the mother held her son tightly. The young woman in the wheelchair picked her way around the pews over to the duo.

"What about us?" she asked. "I deeply sorry for your loss, ma'am, believe me." She nodded compassionately to the woman "But what can we do? I don't know if you've noticed, but we are rather stuck in here."

The Doctor gave the girl a long appraising look, then smiled slightly. "First we need to get the lights back on." His voice took a more exuberant and charismatic tone, "The Angels can only move when they are not seen, which means that the darkness is their best ally."

"So we need light." The girl said.

"We do." He agreed "What's your name?"

"Emma." She answered.

"How are your computer skills Emma?" he nodded to the computer stuck between her hip and the arm of her chair.

"Pretty good." She nodded, retrieving the device from its resting place by her side.

"See if you can locate a KNX system."

"The church has one." She said "I'll get cracking." She smiled as she opened up the screen and began typing.

"Now the rest of you." He addressed the crowd. "We need to stop the Angels from getting in here. So, we barricade, and-"

A sudden frantic knocking on the door caught my and his attention. It was an Angels angry beating on the door, it was rapid and light.

I hopped over a step to the door, probing past the wood, feeling the pure fear and desperation radiating from the other side.

"There is someone out there." I stated "Do I open the door, sir?" I asked

"Yes, but be quick." The Doctor moved to be facing the opening of the door.

I undid the bolt, and opened the door a crack.

"Let me in!" I resisted the push on the door from the terrified man on the other side.

"Calm down please." I said, feeling the urge to just make him calm instead of telling him to be so.

"Their coming, please, let me in!" I

"Illishai! Let him in." The Doctor ordered, I obeyed, opening the door fully.

The man who rushed in was about 400 and something and was dressed completely in black. I shut the door and bolted it. He was panting, leaning on a bench as he caught his breath.

"Thank you." He said once he could speak.

"Are you alone?" The Doctor asked him.

"No, well… I wasn't." he swallowed, "My assistant, George… He- he was taken." He said.

"I'm sorry."

The man looked up to the Doctor, "Is-Is he… Did they…"

"No." he shook his head, "They didn't kill him, only displace him in Time."

"Oh." The man nodded, "That's good, he was a good kid."

Only displaced in Time? And this man was not upset about it? I thought I'd come to understand these people a little better… Apparently not. How could a temporal displacement be counted as inconsequential? Granted, death would be a more important fear since they only had a single life, but still…

A few minutes of silence passed, everybody worked at their own pace, Emma was tapping away at her keyboard in a corner, I helped the others barricade the door.

"It's all well and good that we're protecting ourselves and all." Said the older man, who was seated on the last bench, "But don't you think we should get out of here?" he asked.

And a good question it was indeed. I, for one, was all for an all-out raid outside, but I was also the only one with a weapon. Everyone, including me, turned our gaze towards the Doctor, who found himself at loss for answers.

"There's a passage to the crypt from here." Proposed the black-clad man. "And the crypt itself is connected to the catacomb."

"Catacomb?" the Doctor questioned.

"Well… we call it that, it's more of a dark and musty tunnel really." The man shrugged "It goes underneath the block, I think. I never took much interest in it." he stopped is sentence there, from the wave of grief that suddenly overcame him, and therefore also me, his protégé had been the one with the interest in the underground passage. I really should think of paying closer attention to my shields. These people were just so… contagious when they got emotional.

"Can you guide us through?" I asked

"Up to a point, after that, you're on your own."

I nodded, "Sir." I begged audience with the Time Lord, he granted it to me, "I propose I go ahead and investigate the tunnel. I do not think the Angels will simply leave, and we need an escape route."

He mulled my proposition over for a moment, then nodded, "Good plan. Take the pastor with you, you'll need his guidance."

"Yes, sir." I nodded sharply, and set about my mission.

"Mister." I tapped the pastor on the shoulder, "The passage."

"This way." He beckoned me to follow.

He led me to the back of the chapel where stood another one of those large booths.

"Can you help me move it?" he asked

"Of course." I placed myself next to him as he pushed. I took the load for him and moved the booth a half pace or so across the floor.

The pastor stared at me for a moment, I smiled at him, he dismissed whatever thought was running through his head. He stepped in front of me and pushed open a small panel, which swung inwards to reveal a dark passage that appeared to start with a set of stairs.

It was very dark in there, and while I could probably see for about a few hundred paces inside, it would last long. And the pastor would need more light than I.

"My Lord."

"Yes?"

"We need a torch, do you have one?"

"Hold on." I watched him rummage in his pockets, "Here, catch!" he tossed his prize over.

I caught it in one hand and examined it, it wasn't standard issue. Or any kind of issue I recognized, I pressed a button on the light and a light shone from the other end. It was functional, that's all that mattered.

"Come on." I told the pastor as I ducked down into the passage, shining the white light ahead of me.

"My name's Martin by the way." He said, as he followed me. "Yours?"

"Illishai." I answered.

He had been right about the state of the tunnel, dark, old, and humid. I smelled the damp soil around me as I descended the stone stairs that were slick with condensation water from the air around.

"Not exactly warm down here…" the pastor, Martin, commented. I didn't feel the need to answer him. "Should've brought my coat." He continued, I sighed and wondered if he was going to prattle on like this the entire way.

I made my way down the steps, shining the light around me, the walls were also stone, but bits had crumbled off leaving the raw earth beyond exposed. The steps were narrow and steep and wound around, they now faced a heading ninety degrees from their original one.

I was glad I was in front, the pastor would surely have fallen. At least in my current position, I could break his fall. I wouldn't do me any good to lose the guide, albeit a talkative and slightly annoying one.

"So where are you from?" he tried to make small talk, we ended up in a large room, I swept the light around, taking in the size of the place. I was at least seventy square paces, seven on one side, ten on the other.

I lump formed in my throat, "Nowhere in particular." I said instead.

"Oh." I suspected he nodded, but he was behind me. "I'm from Germany." He sounded wistful, a quick check to his emotional status through my shields confirmed that he was indeed nostalgic. "Beautiful place… I miss it. Came here to study you know? Theology. Ended up being a pastor… I guess you never know where your life is going to lead you."

"No, you don't." I agreed, but left it at that. I would rather silence at this point that his more than slightly annoying chatter. Broken statues adorned the walls in alcoves, or not, some stood apart, laying atop large pedestals. So this is what these people did with their dead, encased them in stone, leaving marble and granite likenesses above their decaying bodies… I could see the poetry in it, stone being eternal and so on, but I still found the idea somewhat repulsive. A funeral pyre and a roaring flame, now that was a proper death ceremony, not eternal constancy that served as a façade for decay. That was almost terrifying.

"You don't talk much do you?" he said after a while.

"No." I answered. There were four exits to this room that I could count.

"Shame. George always talked. Constantly talking he was, never stopped." He kept on going, on his own, "Talking is good you know, bring out ideas, discussion is the best way to solve problems in my mind. People don't do that enough, talk-"

"And you do it too much Pastor Martin." I interrupted him, "Which way do we go?" I asked him

"The far door." He answered, pointing across the room.

"Thank you." I said, breathing a sigh of relief that at least he knew where he was going.

I strode across the room, noticing the different colored stone slabs that I was walking on. I managed to make out a few pieces of lettering, though I was pretty sure they weren't English words, though the symbols were the same.

A shiver crawled up my spine when I realized that those were probably more graves, huddled up against each other. I was walking over putrefied bodies; that was just disgusting… Why would these people even do this?

Not soon enough for my comfort, I reached the door, it was wood, it looked heavy. I pushed the handle, and gave the door a light thump with my shoulder. It didn't move.

"It's locked, do you have the key?"

"Yes, wait a minute." He started fishing in his pocket and pulled out a very large bundle of keys. I felt my eyes widen at the sight of the incoherent mass of jangling metal.

I watched him thumb through them, some were new and shone brightly in the lamplight, others were dull and rusted, they all varied in size and shape, no two were the same.

"Here we are." He announced triumphantly as he brandished an old key whose metal had long since gone brown with age.

He stepped in front of me, I moved to let him insert the key into the lock, the mechanism inside clunked heavily. By the sound of it, it was a very primitive system, but, to its credit, it was so far out of date that most lock-picking devices I knew would've been rendered useless.

The door creaked open, revealing the darkened space beyond. I shone my light down into it.

"Oh." I uttered flatly at the sight of the seemingly endless corridor in front of me. "This is not going to be pleasant."


End file.
